Russian Federation assails NATO’s move to deploy troops near its border

He made the announced after a meeting with Romanian Defense Minister Mihnea Motoc in Brussels. The allies also discussed establishing a Romanian-led multinational “framework brigade” of ground troops to help defend the Black Sea area.

Details of the proposed Romanian-led unit emerged this week at the meeting of North Atlantic Treaty Organisation foreign ministers in Brussels, setting the table for the July leaders’ summit in Warsaw that Trudeau is expected to attend.

Envoy Andriy Shevchenko tells The Canadian Press that’s why it is so important that North Atlantic Treaty Organisation decided this week to bolster its land forces in its three Baltic member countries and Poland.

Nenchev for his part denied taking on any commitments to participate in joint Black Sea units, but admitted he had been made familiar with the “initiative of Romania and Turkey” by his Romanian counterpart Mihnea Motoc, adding the issue had to be considered at a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation level.

Bulgaria also has reasons to be skeptical of the merits of a NATO Black Sea force, added Michael Kofman, a military analyst at CNA Corporation and a fellow at the Wilson Center’s Kennan Institute.

Romania, along with Turkey, has been pushing for a permanent naval group of ships of the alliance in the Black Sea.

Russian state media reported earlier this month that the USS Porter, a USA naval destroyer, had entered the Black Sea on a routine deployment, a move it said raised hackles in Moscow because it had recently been fitted with a new missile system. Kelin spoke ahead of a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation summit in Warsaw next month which is being held at a time when relations between Russian Federation and the alliance are severely strained over Moscow’s role in the Ukraine crisis.

Shevchenko said Russian Federation is waging a “hybrid war” that involves undermining the sovereignty of various countries through an information war, and financing radical and nationalist parties in Europe, which can be destabilizing.

“We’ve been in the Mediterranean continuously for 70 years now, since World War II”, he said. “Russian Federation is your neighbour, just like ours”. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg on Wednesday criticised new Russian snap checks on combat readiness, saying they undermined stability.

“This of great concern because … there are also many casualties”. “Through their propaganda machine, they’re making sure their whole nation is supportive of that”.