NATO rearms on its borders with Russia

Madrid, 24 Mar The leaders of NATO member countries are preparing to approve this Thursday during their extraordinary summit in Brussels the deployment of four new multinational battalions in Slovakia, Hungary, Poland and Bulgaria, in the face of the escalating Russian threat to its eastern borders. On March 13, Russia bombed the military base of the Ukrainian city of Yavoriv, 20 km from the Polish border, where American and other NATO instructors had worked. Since the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014, the Atlantic Alliance had already deployed 4 battalions in these four countries, so they will now have eight in total. These are the highlights of this process: - January 7: The US accuses Russia of mobilizing 100,000 troops on the border with Ukraine and of having plans to “double” this figure in the short term. - January 18-20: Russia arranges troops in Belarus for joint maneuvers near the Ukrainian border and announces large-scale exercises throughout its national territory. - January 21: Bulgaria asks Moscow to respect its NATO membership, after Russia demanded that it withdraw foreign troops from the country to prevent the expansion of the Alliance. - January 25: The Alliance sends more ships and planes to its eastern flank and the allied countries put their forces “on alert” in the face of increased tension. - January 28: The President of Ukraine, Volodimir Zelensky, asks NATO “openly say” whether he will be admitted as a member of that organization. - February 1: Russian President Vladimir Putin warns that Ukraine's entry into the Alliance would lead to a war between Russia and NATO for control of the Crimean peninsula. - February 3: NATO warns of a large Russian military deployment also in Belarus. - February 10: Spain announces that four Eurofighter fighters will patrol from February 15 to April 31 in Bulgaria and six in Lithuania from April 1, in security efforts to preserve peace. - February 11: The Organization reinforces its presence in the Black Sea with a thousand US military personnel. - February 22: NATO says that Russia is “preparing a large-scale invasion of Ukraine”. - 24 February: Russia invades Ukraine and NATO recalls that article 4 of its treaty is activated when one of its member countries is threatened. Denmark sends 200 soldiers to Estonia and two fighters to Poland on a NATO mission. - February 25: NATO announces the deployment of elements of its Response Force in the eastern part of the Alliance, for the first time in a collective defence operation, and France sends 800 soldiers and four fighters to eastern allied countries. - February 27: Russian President Vladimir Putin orders the Russian containment forces to be placed in a “special service regime” following the “aggressive statements” of the main NATO countries, referring to the sanctions imposed on Moscow those days. NATO allies also decide to increase their arms support for Ukraine. - March 1: Zelenski calls on NATO to impose a no-fly zone for “Russian missiles, planes and helicopters” in Ukraine, while the Secretary General of the Alliance, Jens Stoltenberg, reiterates that he will not send troops to that country, but will offer him military support. France deploys 500 soldiers in Romania for the NATO Response Force, and Russia demands that the US withdraw its nuclear weapons from Europe. - March 4: The Alliance agrees that neither allied aircraft nor troops enter Ukraine and rules out participation in a no-fly zone. - March 7: The US will send an additional 500 soldiers to countries on the eastern flank of NATO. - March 10: US Vice President Kamala Harris announces in Poland that two Patriot anti-missile batteries have been deployed in that country. - March 11: The EU announces that it doubles its military aid to Ukraine to 1 billion euros. - March 15: Zelenski assumes that Ukraine will not enter NATO but asks the allies for more weapons. - March 16: Secretary General Stoltenberg acknowledges that the Alliance has a “responsibility” to ensure that the war does not extend beyond Ukraine, while Russia calls for that country to refuse to join NATO and host foreign military bases. CHIEF jfr-msp-doc/hma