The North Atlantic Council meets during the NATO Foreign Ministers meeting in Brussels. Photo: NATO
NATO foreign ministers have agreed to do more in the face of a Russian sabotage campaign against member states after a two-day meeting in Brussels which was also attended by King Abdullah II of Jordan.
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte says that “both Russia and China have tried to destabilise our countries and divide our societies with acts of sabotage, cyber-attacks, and energy blackmail”.
Western security officials said that fires in courier depots in Britain, Germany and Poland in July were part of a test run to trigger explosions on cargo flights to the US.
European countries are continuing to probe whether the cutting of two fibre-optic telecommunication cables in the Baltic Sea in November, one linking Finland and Germany and the other connecting Sweden to Lithuania, was sabotage.
EARLIER: Russia suspected in deep sea cables sabotage
Rutte explained in a statement that the ministers agreed to counter-measures such as better intelligence sharing, more exercises, better protection of critical infrastructure, better cyber defence and tougher action against Russia’s ‘shadow fleet’ of oil tankers.
NATO will also be working with the EU, he added.
Rutte highlighted the alliance of Russia, China, North Korea and Iran as an example of global threats facing NATO, including the war in Ukraine.
He noted that in return for troops and weapons, Russia has helped North Korea with its missile and nuclear programs.
“These developments could destabilise the Korean Peninsula and even threaten the United States so Russia’s illegal war in Ukraine threatens us all,” he says.
During their meeting, ministers talked to King Abdullah II about the Middle East and closer co-operation with allies in the region with NATO to open a liaison office in Amman.
UKRAINE
Ministers also met with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha and with Kaja Kallas, the new EU High Representative, in the NATO-Ukraine Council.
NATO says talks centred on Ukraine’s most urgent needs with more ammunition and air defences on the agenda.
“Allies are working to deliver on the financial pledge of €40 billion ($65.4 billion) in security assistance for Ukraine in 2024,” he says.
He expects a new training command centre for Ukraine in Wiesbaden to be fully operational shortly.
“We must do more than just keep Ukraine in the fight,” Rutte says.
“We must provide enough support to change the trajectory of this conflict once and for all,” Rutte says.
