NATO moves to shore up flanks
Alarmed by Russia’s Syria moves, alliance adds military exercises; U.K. sending troops to Baltics, Ukraine.
Confronted with its biggest military challenge since the end of the Cold War, NATO took steps Thursday to shore up its flanks, both in the Middle East and Europe, as Russia continued to test the credibility of the alliance’s bedrock principle of collective defense.
Western officials have been alarmed by the speed and scale of Moscow’s intervention in Syria. Russia’s warplanes have violated Turkish airspace and its warships in the Caspian Sea have fired cruise missiles at targets in Syria — though U.S. officials said Thursday that four of the 26 Kalibrs, in their first wartime use, fell well short of their targets, crashing to earth in rural northern Iran.
Not wanting to inflame the situation, but also wary of appearing too passive, Western officials have responded cautiously, taking a number of limited steps while raising the rhetorical heat on Moscow.
On Thursday, they said they had stepped up military exercises
and deployed a small number of logistics personnel in Eastern and Central Europe. Britain announced that it would send soldiers to the Baltic countries, Poland and Ukraine. And Germany condemned Russia’s operations in Syria in unusually pointed terms.
“We are implementing the biggest reinforcement of our collective defense since the end of the Cold War,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stolten
berg said beforea meeting of defense ministers here Thursday. After the meet
ing, he said, “All of this sends a message to NATO citizens: NATO will defend you, NATO is on the ground, NATO is ready.”
NATO already had stationed Patriot missiles in Turkey to protect that member state from missiles emanating from Syria, but the launchers were scheduled to be removed this year. Now NATO officials are discussing whether to keep them in place, given Russia’s actions.
British officials said units of up to 150 personnel would be regularly deployed to Russia’s neighbors Poland and Ukraine, as well as the Baltic nations, to support military training. Michael Fallon, the British defense secretary, called the decision part of a “policy of persistent presence and aid for our allies” in response to “Russian aggression and provocation.”
The NATO moves announced Thursday were mostly symbolic, although Russia quickly reacted to the British announcement. Dmitry S. Peskov, a spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin, told journalists that any increased presence of British troops in Eastern Europe would be regrettable.