NATO trumpets resolve over Russia, plays down divisions

BRUSSELS — NATO defence ministers met Thursday in a fresh show of resolve against Russia and played down festering transatlantic disputes that threaten to undermine unity across the 29nation military alliance.

At a meeting in Brussels, the ministers unveiled a new plan to reinforce their presence in any European crisis with the deployment of 30 troop battalions, 30 squadrons of aircraft and 30 warships within 30 days.

Details of the plan, drawn up by the U.S. and to be in place by 2020, remain sketchy.

They also made official staffing levels of more than 1,200 personnel for new commands covering the Atlantic Ocean — based in Norfolk, Virginia — and in Ulm, Germany, handling logistics during any conflict in Europe.

“We have decided further steps to strengthen our shared security and boost defence and deterrence against threats from any direction,” NATO SecretaryGeneral Jens Stoltenberg told reporters.

He said the two commands will help “ensure we have the right forces in the right place at the right time.”

Relations between NATO and Russia are at their lowest ebb since the Cold War, a fact the alliance says is due to Russia’s destabilization of Ukraine and its 2014 annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula.

The meeting comes just five weeks before a summit of NATO leaders, to be attended by U.S. President Donald Trump.

A year ago, Trump embarrassed U.S. allies outside their new billion-euro headquarters by publicly berating them for failing to spend enough on their defence budgets.

Over the past year he has pulled the U.S. out of the Paris climate change agreement and a deal limiting Iran’s ability to develop nuclear weapons. At great expense, European allies are trying to keep that Iran deal afloat.

Then on June 1, Trump slapped tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from allies in Europe and Canada, citing national security concerns.

Stoltenberg said the U.S. is investing more on European defence than ever despite the transatlantic differences.

“Many ministers highlighted the importance of NATO unity and that we have to stay united, especially when we see that Russia tries to divide us,” he said.