Brian Bradley
NS&D Monitor
2/6/2015
NATO’s allied defense ministers this week formulated a “Readiness Action Plan” and released a related joint statement which indicates a growing emphasis on allied strategic forces in Europe. The decision comes at a time of continued Russian occupation of Eastern Ukraine, existing bilateral tensions over the annexation of Crimea, Russian strategic bomber flights that have grown more frequent and closer to allied airspaces in recent months, and reduced U.S.-Russian cooperation on nonproliferation. “The [Readiness Action] Plan strengthens NATO’s collective defense and also its crisis management capability,” the joint statement reads. “Defensive in nature, the measures will contribute to ensuring that NATO remains a ready, robust and responsive Alliance capable of meeting current and future challenges from wherever they may arise, and that NATO has the right forces in the right place at the right time.”
The joint statement suggests NATO-affiliated heads of state would employ a more “coherent and comprehensive package of necessary measures” to respond to challenges posed by Russian strategic implications. “As we progress towards the Warsaw Summit in 2016, our meeting today is an important stepping stone towards adapting the Alliance’s military strategic posture,” the statement reads. “We are working to ensure that our Allied forces maintain the high levels of readiness and coherence needed to conduct NATO’s full range of missions, including deterring aggression against NATO Allies and demonstrating preparedness to defend NATO territory.”
Hagel Among Attendees
In what will likely be his final NATO appearance as U.S. Defense Secretary, Chuck Hagel attended ministerial meetings, including a Nuclear Planning Group session. “We have these meetings on a regular basis,” Hagel said. “But our discussions today were particularly important in light of Moscow’s violations of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, its violations of Ukrainian sovereignty and its increasingly aggressive military actions, such as its recent flight of nuclear-capable bombers near British airspace over the English Channel.”
Nuclear Planning Group Meets
Ministerial meetings took place all day Feb. 5, including one involving NATO’s Nuclear Planning Group. Media were not allowed to cover that meeting, and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg provided few details during a press briefing, only noting that it was a regular meeting to address the safety and effectiveness of the organization’s nuclear forces, and that representatives from the organization’s nuclear-weapon states, the U.S. and U.K., briefed NATO members on nuclear matters.
