First of all it’s important even as current events draw our attention to the East or to the South of NATO space, to remember that NATO is an Alliance in all directions. So here at the NATO headquarters we often remind ourselves that we are a 360 degree, that is a complete circle when we think about challenges to the Alliance. So the far north is part of that 360 degrees.Thanks to very solid allies like Norway we don’t have a serious security challenge today in the far north. NATO watches very carefully military developments in the Arctic and in particular the modernisation of some Russian capabilities in the Arctic. We watch it carefully because obviously we have Norway as an ally up there, but we have other Arctic allies, and obviously because the access to the North Atlantic space could be challenged from the far north.
So this is a very strategic region for the Alliance. We watch it carefully. And while Russia modernises its equipment and its basing in that area, we don’t yet consider it a severe challenge to the alliance. And in no small part that’s because of allies like Norway.

Ambassador Douglas Lute , U.S. Permanent Representative to NATO.

Full Press Briefing …..

February 9, 2016

Moderator: Today we’re very pleased to welcome once again from Brussels Ambassador Douglas Lute, the U.S. Permanent Representative to NATO.

As you know, this week is the NATO Defence Ministerial, so this is a very timely conversation and I’m sure you have many questions. And thanks again to Ambassador Lute for taking the time to preview the Ministerial.

We’ll begin today’s call with opening remarks from Ambassador Lute and then we will turn over to your questions and obviously we’ll try to get to as many questions as we can during the time that we have here, about one hour.

As a reminder, today’s call is on the record, and with that I’ll turn it over now to Ambassador Lute.

Ambassador Lute: Thanks, Peter, and welcome all to this call.
This of course follows the tradition that we’ve established over the years where just a day or so prior to Ministers, either Defense Ministers as in this case, or Foreign Ministers meeting here in Brussels we tend to give this sort of background briefing so that the informed media have a chance to understand what the sessions are all about and report accurately.

Let me place first of all the next two days in the broader context and then I’ll unpack the sessions of the Ministerial itself.

First of all, it’s important to recognize that this Ministerial falls almost exactly five months to the Warsaw Summit in July, and of course in NATO we use these Ministerial sessions as key milestones that tee up decisions for leaders at the Summit and shape the Summit outcomes. So we have three such Ministerials between now and Warsaw. The next two days, so Wednesday and Thursday of this week Secretary of Defense Carter will be here with his 27 Defense Minister colleagues. Then in May, Secretary Kerry will be here with his Foreign Minister friends. And back again in June will be the Defense Ministers. So February, May and June lead to the Summit in Warsaw in July.

So let me quickly explain the agenda over the next two days and then we’ll get to your questions. There will be a total of five sessions on Wednesday and Thursday. The first session centers on a topic which is really essential for the Alliance and that is deterrence and defense. And what we expect Ministers to do is to first discuss and ultimately approve a new framework for NATO deterrence and defense. You might call this 21st Century deterrence. I say that because deterrence, of course, is not new to the NATO Alliance, but what Ministers will discuss over the next two days and in particular in this first session tomorrow, will be how do we update or modernize deterrence so that it is fits the purpose for the new challenges that NATO faces around its periphery.

I think the way to think about the updated or modern deterrence is along a spectrum of capabilities. So on one end of the spectrum you have national defense capabilities, capabilities that each of the 28 allies have to defend themselves, to improve their national resilience, to hybrid attack, to cyber attack, to attacks on key infrastructure.

In the middle of the spectrum you have conventional capabilities. These are capabilities that NATO traditionally offers in support of the 28 allies. So these are collective defense capabilities. Prominently here the Readiness Action Plan which was adopted at Wales fits into this center part of the spectrum, but other capabilities as well. So NATO’s ballistic missile defense capabilities are part of our conventional deterrence spectrum; NATO’s command and control capabilities and so forth.

Then finally on the opposite extreme of the spectrum are NATO’s nuclear capabilities, and these are both capabilities that are operated by NATO itself, but also ultimately backstopped by the national strategic nuclear capabilities of our three strategic nuclear allies, so the United States, France and Great Britain.

So if you think about deterrence, all the way from sort of national responsibilities for resilience all the way through nuclear capabilities you get a sense of the full range of the discussion in this first session.

I think a very prominent contribution to that deterrence was the U.S. announcement just a week ago that in the coming year we will increase by four-fold the U.S. commitment in finances to bolstering our contribution to deterrence here in Europe. It really has three major parts, and these include first of all we will increase U.S. troop rotations to Europe. Over the last two years, just to put this in comparison, over the last two years we have rotated one armored brigade at a time for about one six-month period, each of the last two years. So for about six months we’ve had an armored brigade from the United States come to Europe and train and exercise alongside our allies.

The initiative that was announced last week will double that presence. So beginning next year we’ll have an armored brigade on the ground rotating from the States for the full year. So we’ve essentially doubled our presence from the States.

The second thing, and I think the thing that got a lot of press last week, is that the United States will fund a substantial set of prepositioned warfighting equipment here in Europe. Of course this is not unfamiliar to our Western European allies who hosted a lot of such equipment during the Cold War, but what we announced last week will bring a division headquarters prepositioned into Europe. It will bring an armored brigade set of equipment prepositioned into Europe. It will bring an artillery brigade back into Europe. And it will bring another set of enablers. These are supporting capabilities that go with a division set. So we’re in a very substantial way prepositioning equipment which facilitates our rapid response to Europe if we need to in the face of a crisis. And the basic design here, of course, is preposition the equipment now which enables flying in U.S. troops from the United States as needed in the face of a crisis.

This of course is all in accordance with the NATO-Russia Founding Act. Some would claim otherwise, but they’re frankly wrong. The NATO-Russia Founding Act allows for improvements in infrastructure such as this prepositioning that I’ve outlined. These are rotational troops that I’ve described, not permanent troops. And the majority of the prepositioning will be in Western Europe, not in the East.

So once again, this is an important move, but it’s a move that’s in accordance with the NATO-Russia Founding Act, and that of course demonstrates that NATO intends to abide by its international commitments even perhaps when others do not.

I think that pretty much covers the first meeting. If the first meeting had a single title it would be modern deterrence.

WASHINGTON – JUNE 7: Army Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute listens to a question during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Capitol Hill June 7, 2007 in Washington, DC. Lt. Gen. Lute has been nominated by US President George W. Bush to be the Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Adviser for Iraq and Afghanistan. (Photo by Brendan Smialowski/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Douglas Lute

In the second session, the Ministers will go through a tailored discussion which is focused on NATO political decision-making. So they’ll address a fictitious scenario and by way of using this scenario as a vehicle they’ll go through the decision-making processes, both here at NATO headquarters driven by the scenario, but also decision-making that will take place in national capitals across the Alliance. And the whole idea here is to review the process so we’re all on the same sheet of music in terms of how the Alliance collectively deals with crisis; but also to look for rough spots and spots where we could streamline procedures or delegate responsibilities in an effort to speed and make more efficient our response. So that’s the second session.

At the working dinner tomorrow night, the Ministers will take on the discussion of NATO’s periphery, and in particular the instabilities in the East and the South. Here very much the conversation will focus on NATO’s partners. And as many of the callers will understand, beyond the 29 members of the Alliance NATO has established and maintained partnerships with 40 additional countries. Those countries largely live along NATO’s Eastern and Southern boundaries.

Here, of course, I think the theme of the last several years is increased instability and uncertainty along that periphery and among many of the partner states that NATO is associated with.

So the question at dinner will be what more can NATO do to promote stability there? And essentially to export security or promote security on its borders.

At this session we’ll invite five key partners to actually participate at the Ministers’ level in the discussion. So Finland, Sweden, Australia, Jordan and Georgia will actually be at the table alongside the EU as well, joining the 28 NATO Ministers in this conversation.

Thursday morning dawns with a session and we’re back onto deterrence. This session is designed to be a follow-up from the Wednesday sessions, so the framework for deterrence and then the scenario discussion on decision-making. And Ministers will focus in on concrete steps they can take between Thursday and the Warsaw Summit that will bolster the spectrum of deterrence. The sorts of things I think that we imagine they’ll talk about are NATO’s ability to respond to hybrid warfare. I believe they’ll talk about national responsibilities for resilience. This includes cyber defense and national defense capabilities and so forth. Ministers will note progress on two key NATO capabilities that are coming on-line. First of all, ballistic missile defense; and second, what we call the Alliance Ground Surveillance system or AGS. This is the first time the Alliance will own and operate five Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicles which are high altitude, long endurance surveillance platforms. And the first of those are coming on-line between now and the Summit.

So all of these capabilities will be reviewed but in this session on Thursday morning Ministers will get down into the details and try to press the Alliance to deliver as much as possible by the Warsaw Summit.

Now none of this comes cheap, which means that Ministers will also review progress since the Wales pledge on defense investment on the Alliance’s ability to turn around the longstanding pattern on declining defense budgets. And the good news here, as revealed by the Secretary General’s annual report which just came out a week or so ago, is that by and large the Alliance has turned the corner on defense spending. Of course the U.S. from a national perspective, the U.S. will actually increase its defense budget next year in real terms, but not all allies have done that.

About two-thirds of the 28 allies have stopped the cuts and are now moving in a positive direction on defense spending.

We will actually distribute progress charts to the Ministers so there will be no hiding from the data. We’ll be quite transparent and mature about sharing openly the data on defense spending. And this, of course, is a prelude to exactly the same pattern that will play out at the Warsaw Summit when again leaders will look very candidly at how we’re doing on defense spending.

The last session, so session number five, this is now before lunch on Thursday, will be a meeting of the NATO-Georgia Commission. Here the 28 NATO Ministers will be joined by their Georgian Minister of Defense colleague, Minister Khidasheli. They will review progress on ongoing partnership progress with our close partner Georgia, and they’ll also assess what more might be done in the coming months.

So that’s a quick survey of the five sessions.

Separate and distinct. So after the NATO Defense Ministers meeting, Secretary Carter here at NATO headquarters will host a group of the Counter-ISIL or the Counter-Da’esh International Coalition.

Now let me be clear that this is not a NATO meeting. It’s simply a meeting that NATO is helping by providing the venue. It will be a U.S.-hosted, U.S.-chaired meeting of coalition members, and there the discussion will be what more needs to be done in terms of generating the resources required to increase the pressure against Da’esh. That will take place on Thursday afternoon.

Press: I wondered, with respect to the deterrence of 21st century and the announcement that was made last week. So in which Central European countries the U.S. wants to deploy military equipment? It is Poland or do you consider other Central European countries like Hungary?

Ambassador Lute: This is a bit of a difficult question because there are several different sets of U.S. equipment that will be prepositioned, so let me see if I can clarify.
You’ll recall that last summer we announced that we were distributing training equipment across a number of Central and Eastern European allied countries to facilitate American troops coming in, training with our allies, and having the equipment already there prepositioned. So that prepositioning of rather small training sets is underway now. I think there are six or eight countries where we’re working with the host government first of all to secure an invitation. The United States doesn’t put combat equipment on another country’s territory without an invitation. But with that host nation invitation we also then have to negotiate things like the facility where the equipment will be stored securely and so forth. So that process is going on and it’s been going on now for about six or nine months.

The equipment that was announced last week, however, is a different set. This set will not routinely be used for training but will be stored mostly in Western European allied countries along transportation nodes where the sets can be quickly linked up with troops from the States and then moved in any direction — north, south, east or west — based on the transportation infrastructure.

So there’s a set of equipment that’s being prepositioned. It’s relatively small and for training purposes. And there’s another set, the set announced last week, which is essentially for crisis purposes and that will be preserved for actual potential of combat.

As for whether or not there will be some in Hungary itself, you know I’m not up to date with the exact negotiations that are taking place, but I know Hungary is a candidate state to receive some of the first type, that is a relatively small training set. But I can’t tell you on this call exactly what the status of that negotiation is. But certainly Hungary is a candidate.

Press: I would like to learn the U.S. perspective since there was a call between Merkel and Davutoğlu, the Turkish PM, Davutoğlu, that they were asking for now from NATO in the southern border and in agency for the Coast Guard ?

Secondly, since the Patriots that the U.S. and Germany has deployed to Turkey has been withdrawn, is there any new decision on the agenda of NATO members to deploy AWACS or other items like the missiles, SAM missiles ?

Ambassador Lute: Let me take those in reverse order.

First of all, the Alliance agreed several months ago in response to a Turkish government request to provide Turkey additional self-defense capabilities, and capabilities that reassure Turkey that if its borders are violated that the Alliance will stand strong with Turkey, and those capabilities are moving in, they’re either in Turkey now or they’re about to be in Turkey. I don’t know of a new request for additional such NATO support, but those, we call them reassurance capabilities, are en-route.

Now having to do with the press reports from yesterday between Chancellor Merkel and Turkish leaders, I read those too, but they have not been formalized yet, although they might be in the next two days. So we’ll have to simply see what transpires during the Ministers meeting and there will be space, and of course Ministerial meetings are a prime opportunity for any one of the 28 allies to bring such requests to the Alliance. But quite candidly, we’ll have to just see what either the German or the Turkish Ministers have to say on this matter.

So all I can say is I’ve seen the press reports and I await their comments in the next two days.

Press: Recent coverage of the Pentagon’s funding request of $3.4 billion for the European Reassurance Initiative, ERI. He asks, “How much of this sum will go towards strengthening the Romanian Army, and how do you see this growing military partnership between the U.S. and Romania and this part of Europe?”

Ambassador Lute: The question is correct, that there is money in the budget decision announced last week to build capacity among Eastern and Central European allies and also partners, so beyond allies to partners themselves. So how much of the $3.4 will go to which particular ally or which particular partner has not yet been decided, but there is a portion of the $3.4 billion devoted to partner capacity building.

I don’t have the details. Those are yet to be worked out. And of course this is money that plays out over the next year. But what I can tell you is that one of the priorities of the funding decision was to build partner capacity.

Press: — said that the U.S. had to choose between Turkey and Syrian Kurdish forms of PYD which he referred to as terrorists. This is following the visit to Kobani by U.S. Envoy Brett McGurk. What is your response to this apparent ultimatum?

Ambassador Lute: First of all we’ve been in close negotiations and closed conversations with our ally Turkey for a long time, having to do with U.S. support for different Syrian opposition groups inside Syria. And part of that discussion has admittedly been about the role that the Syrian Kurdish groups but other Kurdish groups play with regard to the struggle in Syria. So I’ve seen the reports that Turkish officials have registered concerns, but these are not new concerns with regard to U.S. contact and U.S. support for the Syrian Kurdish groups.

And of course the visit that you’re referring to took place into the town of Kobani which of course was largely freed from ISIL control because of the fighting, because of the effective fighting of those Syrian Kurdish groups.

So this is an ongoing matter of conversation, of consultation between the United States and Turkey, and I think I’ll just leave that to play out in diplomatic channels.

Press: There are now almost daily reports of civilian casualties after Russian air strikes in Syria. We also see thousands of new refugees every day heading to Europe after this. Basically, what will NATO’s response to this emerging situation be, and why is Russia doing this?

Also, another question connected to this one. Last time we spoke, you said Russia is concentrating its actions only against the Syrian opposition, not against ISIS. Has this changed at all in the past month? Thank you.

Ambassador Lute: First of all the pattern of Russian strikes in Syria has not changed in any fundamental way, and the vast majority, 80 to 90 percent of Russian strikes, are still against those
opposing the Syrian regime, those opposing Asad. They are not against ISIL. And this is an empirical fact. I mean this is not an estimate, this is knowable. And what we know is that Russia is bombing the opposition in Syria and not taking the fight to ISIL.
Now what are the impacts of that move? The impacts are that the situation is complicated dramatically by Russia’s actions in at least three ways. So first of all, the security situation is complicated; second of all, as you mentioned, the humanitarian situation is complicated because the Russian bombing campaign in Northwest Syria has dramatically increased the refugee flow. We’ve seen these refugees displaced not only inside Syria itself, but also along the border with Turkey and into Turkey. So they’ve worsened the humanitarian situation.

Finally, as I think we saw play out in Geneva in the UN-hosted emerging political process, Russia’s actions on the ground dramatically complicate the politics.

So on all three fronts — the security front, the humanitarian front and the political front — we see Russia’s continued focus on these opposition groups in support of Asad as unhelpful and not constructive.

So why are they doing this? I think we can only draw one conclusion. That is that their objective is to promote Asad and to sustain his position in power in Syria.

So the situation has not improved, but I would argue has worsened since our last media call in December.

Press: I’m following what you just mentioned regarding Russia’s role in the Syrian conflict. Does it make any sense to meet Thursday night in Munich to go on with ceasefire negotiations in the Geneva format? Give us an outlook on these negotiations, please.

And a second question, if I may. There was a discussion to bring NATO airplanes over Syria, into Syrian airspace, and over Turkish airspace. Could you please give us an update?

Ambassador Lute: First on the political track. I would say it’s the only thing that makes sense. Now the politics of this, the diplomacy of this will be difficult. The UN has one of its best negotiators, one of its best international diplomats on this case, Steffan de Mistura, working for the UN Secretary General. And it will be an extremely difficult process, but it’s the only process that makes sense because we don’t believe that there’s a military solution. So if we search for a solution we’re led immediately to the political and the diplomatic track.

So I appreciate that we’re in the early days of this political effort, in this diplomatic effort, but it’s really an effort that deserves all of our support.

As for the NATO AWACS, there is an ongoing process where NATO is assessing whether it might provide support to the coalition against ISIL, but the forms of that support and the timing and how that might actually happen is still under discussion, and of course for those on the call, AWACS is an airborne essentially air traffic control aircraft from which air campaigns can be commanded and controlled. NATO has this capability. Nations also have this capability, so the United States, for example, has this capability. And there is a request asking NATO to assess whether it could lend some of its capabilities in support of the coalition. That’s the request that is still under consideration and no decision has been taken.

Press: What do you think is Russia’s long-term ambition with Syria? There’s a question that’s rumored in Sweden that Russian authorities are aiding refugees to enter Europe, and some people see that as an effort to destabilize the union. Is there anything behind this those rumors that we can be certain of? And you are talking about deploying in Europe, is there anything coming to Sweden ?

Ambassador Lute: I think Russia’s objective in Syria is to keep Asad in power and therefore retain Russian influence in the region. Because of Russia’s longstanding historical relationship with the Asad regime, both under Bashar al Asad and previously under his father. And of course Russia has a naval base in Tartus. It now has a significant air presence just north of there in a Syrian base. So this has, I think, everything to do with retaining, preserving Russian influence in the region. But also I think there’s evidence that Russia wishes to be a player, wishes to assert itself on the international scene and have a voice in the affairs in the Middle East.

That appears to be Russia’s objective. What appears not to be an objective is the fight against ISIL, and this I base simply on the empirical data that shows who Russia is fighting — that is the opposition — and who Russia largely is not fighting — and that’s ISIL.

With regard to Sweden, NATO has obviously one of its closest partnerships with Sweden. This, in part, is why Sweden will at the Ministers level be invited to join the NATO Ministers at dinner tomorrow night. And one of the things we wish to get out of that conversation with our Swedish colleague is how does partnership look from outside NATO? So how does a partnership with NATO look from a country like Sweden who has over the years operated right alongside NATO in contingency operations in the Balkans and in Afghanistan, and how could NATO, what steps could NATO take to actually improve partnerships from a partner’s perspective?

So this is why tomorrow night we’re anxious to hear from the set of five partners that I mentioned, including Sweden, about how we can actually improve partnerships, because from NATO’s perspective, partnerships are going to be even more vital in the coming years as we the Alliance deals with this instability along its periphery.

I think there was one other question but I missed it. Can you review, is there a third part of your question?

Press: Russian authorities aiding refugees in a destabilizing effort ?

Ambassador Lute: I’ve seen press reports about this point, but I have not seen evidence of this, hard evidence of this.

I think that the number one thing that Russia is doing with regard to refugees out of Syria and Iraq is continuing the strikes in and around Syrian population centers in Northwest Syria and supporting the Asad regime. After all, it’s the Asad regime which is the number one source of the displaced persons and refugee crisis. I mean, the humanitarian situation among Syrians has been promoted by the Syrian government. So when the Russians align themselves with Asad, and when the Russians take the fight in and round Syrian population centers, all they do is make more severe the humanitarian crisis which brought a million refugees to European shores last year.

So I think the real problem with regard to Russia and refugees, we should focus on the source of the problem, and the source of the problem is the violence in Syria.

Press: My question is about the Russian Defense Minister latest Turkish airspace violation and insists the plane never entered Turkish airspace. However, Turkish government strongly insists that the Russian airplane entered into Turkish airspace and condemned it. Is NATO [inaudible]. What sort of physical and technical information do you have on this issue and what’s your comment on it?

Ambassador Lute: The incident you’re referring to took place maybe two weeks ago, and actually is only the latest incident in a pattern of incidents where Russian aircraft flying out of Syrian

bases have moved up along the border with Turkey and in several cases have actually crossed the border and violated Turkish airspace. And of course we all remember back before the end of the year, I believe in November of last year, that one of these violations led to Turkish F-16s actually downing a Russian combat aircraft.

So the incident of just a week or so ago is only the latest in a pattern, which we should remember.

NATO has its own means of verifying the tracks of aircraft in the region and as Turkey provided its evidence, NATO tracked Turkey’s evidence with our evidence and we corroborate the Turkish evidence.

So NATO and Turkey see this exactly the same way. We agree that the Russian aircraft violated Turkish airspace and we agree that Turkey warned the aircraft repeatedly before the violation.

Now the burden should shift to Russia. And what we need is a Russian decision to stop these dangerous activities right up along the border with Turkey and to ensure that it abides by safe flying practices which are well-established between Russia and the others who are operating in that area.

So there’s a real burden here on Russia to take the right safety measures to ensure the safety of its pilots but also to ensure the safety of other pilots in the area, and frankly to ensure that we don’t have another dangerous situation where actually shots are filed.

Press: what is the U.S. position on Turkey refusing Russian flights over its territory and the treaty on Open Skies ?

And another one, General Secretary Jens Stoltenberg said that the possibility of a meeting of the NATO-Russia Council is under discussion. Does the United States support this idea?

Ambassador Lute: Your first question had to do with, I believe, the recent request by Russia to assert its privilege under the Open Skies Agreement and fly along the Turkish border. By longstanding agreement, the Open Skies flights have to be mutually agreed by both parties, and as I understand it in this case we did not have mutual agreement, so therefore the flight was denied. But that’s not unusual. That’s longstanding protocol in the Open Skies Agreement.

With regard to the Secretary General’s comment with regard to the NATO-Russia Council, you’re right. Such a meeting is being explored by both sides, by both NATO and by the Russian authorities, and the United States supports the potential that the NATO-Russia Council meets, however we’re quite clear that this is not actually out of the ordinary. This is an agreement that’s been in place for some months now, that we should retain the openness to dialogue at the Ambassador’s level in the NATO-Russia Council. So this is actually not news. This has been in place for some time and the United States continues to support it.

Press: Turkish airspace violation as mentioned. At the same time Turkish fighter planes violate almost daily the Greek national airspace. What is the official U.S. response on that issue?

Ambassador Lute: Our response is actually similar in both instances, and that is that wherever airspace of one nation meets airspace of another nation, there is a two-part responsibility to abide by international protocols, international rules with regard to that airspace. In the case of Turkish and Greek airspace, typically those questions that occasionally arise between Turkey and Greece are dealt with diplomatically. They’re dealt with in responsible channels and there’s a longstanding pattern of responsible behavior on behalf of those two allies.

We would like all such airspace questions to be dealt with so responsibly as both our Turkish and Greek allies have demonstrated over the years.

So there are international rules here and the U.S. position is those rules should be abided by.

Press: what do you think would be the role of Romania in the new deterrent strategy that will be discussed tomorrow in Brussels?

if you believe that this new budget announced by the Pentagon for the Central and Eastern European countries will be enough to deter threats like Russia?

Ambassador Lute: Romania has several roles. First of all as an Eastern flank ally, Romania serves as a host for some of these deterrence activities. For example, U.S. troops have been
training alongside Romanian troops for years now. Romania has hosted U.S. training exercises and U.S. equipment on Romanian soil, and those are very important national steps that Romania has taken to bolster deterrence along that part of the alliance boundary.

But you know, Romania has a second role, and that is the role as a contributor to the collective defense and here you see Romania’s armored forces operating outside Romania, prominently in Afghanistan for years, where they have contributed to the collective defense of the Alliance.

So there’s very much a two-way street. Romania receives support and contributes as a host country, and Romania provides support to the Alliance as a whole. And that’s exactly the way the Alliance is set up. This is a two-way street between nations and the Alliance, back and forth. And Romania is a very good example of that.

Press: The second part was if you believe that the new funding announced by the Pentagon, the $3.4 billion, for the countries in Eastern Europe is enough for deterring threats like Russia ?
Ambassador Lute: We’re not sure that it’s enough, quite frankly, and part of the reason the President took this decision, and this is a considerable investment, $3.4 billion, part of the reason he took that is that he’s convinced that we needed to do more.

Over the next two days in the face of this decision announced last week, Defense Ministers will have this very conversation. I mean, the question you just posed to me will be a question that Ministers pose to one another in the next two days. That is, are the steps that the Alliance has taken so far, to include the $3.4 billion decision, are they enough? Or rather, by the Warsaw Summit in July, are there additional concrete steps that need to be taken to further bolster this idea of modern deterrence?

So I don’t have a solid answer for you except that it’s such a good question that Ministers will actually tackle it in the next two days.

Press: from Nadarajah Sethurupan from Norway News in Oslo. He asks, “Can you evaluate the security threats in the high north, mainly near the Russian-Norway border?”

Ambassador Lute: First of all it’s important even as current events draw our attention to the East or to the South of NATO space, to remember that NATO is an Alliance in all directions. So here at the NATO headquarters we often remind ourselves that we are a 360 degree, that is a complete circle when we think about challenges to the Alliance. So the far north is part of that 360 degrees.

Thanks to very solid allies like Norway we don’t have a serious security challenge today in the far north. NATO watches very carefully military developments in the Arctic and in particular the modernization of some Russian capabilities in the Arctic. We watch it carefully because obviously we have Norway as an ally up there, but we have other Arctic allies, and obviously because the access to the North Atlantic space could be challenged from the far north.

So this is a very strategic region for the Alliance. We watch it carefully. And while Russia modernizes its equipment and its basing in that area, we don’t yet consider it a severe challenge to the alliance. And in no small part that’s because of allies like Norway.

Press: “Mr. Ambassador, increasingly the leadership of the Pentagon is focused on the so-called third offset strategy. I’m wondering how do you see historically the role of the offset strategy for NATO’s deterrence potential? What role did the offset strategy play in the history of the Alliance? And at the same time, increasingly around Europe we see the rise of access denial bubbles. What can NATO and the U.S. do in order to offset the impact of such capabilities?”

Ambassador Lute: This question obviously speaks to a conversation that is very active in the United States having to do with these offset strategies, and let me just for the listeners quickly review what this means.
There is an argument that at least three times in Alliance history that significant technological gains have led to a significant shift in strategy, and historically the first such shift for NATO was the development and deterrence value of nuclear weapons. So this is back, all the way back to NATO’s founding.

The second technology shift was a shift in the mid-1960s into the mid-1970s where precision conventional weapons tended to offset the nuclear stalemate.

The third such strategy is now discussed among some officials as something that’s happening right now, and this is the notion of cyber capabilities, of electronic warfare capabilities, of further precision-guided capabilities, all combining to suggest that we may be at another strategic shift.

One of the things that’s cited as an example of this, this third offset, if you will, is the Russian capabilities that we see deployed in Kaliningrad, for example, or increasingly in the Crimean Peninsula, where the Russian deployment combines precision-guided surface-to-surface strike capabilities; it brings sophisticated air defense capabilities; sophisticated electronic capabilities all to one place in an effort to be able to assert influence out into international sea space and international airspace.

So this question of the third offset strategy is very much a topic of discussion, and I think NATO’s response to these kinds of modern capabilities is very much what we mean by 21st century deterrence.

So how do we offset Russian moves? We offset it by modernizing deterrence as I described earlier in my comments that run all the way from national resilience all the way through the nuclear deterrent capability. So it’s very much a discussion that’s going on in Washington and it influences NATO thinking.

Press: Referring to the European Reassurance Initiative, he refers to comments by Evelyn Farkas that for the U.S. and NATO this is a huge sign of commitment to deterring Russia and to strengthening our alliance and our partnership with countries like Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia, and he asks, “What exactly do you mean by strengthening relations with Moldova? For example, will the U.S. continue to donate heavy weapons and military training to Moldova like they did last year? Or something else? Can you give any examples?”

WASHINGTON – JUNE 7: Army Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute listens to a question during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Capitol Hill June 7, 2007 in Washington, DC. Lt. Gen. Lute has been nominated by US President George W. Bush to be the Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Adviser for Iraq and Afghanistan. (Photo by Brendan Smialowski/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Douglas Lute

Ambassador Lute: In the $3.4 billion a section of that money, a portion of that money is devoted to building partner capacity, and by partners we include states like Moldova.

Now exactly what U.S. programs will go to Moldova are not yet determined, but these are programs that have to do with modernizing Moldova’s ability to defend itself, modernizing Moldova’s defense institutions and their national security structures so that Moldova is more resilient and more able to defend itself, and more able to resist outside intimidation and outside influence.

So I don’t have actual program data in terms of what kinds of support will flow to Moldova, but those are the categories. Mostly having to do with making Moldova more resilient to negative influences from outside.

Press: You said that you will fly in troops and equipment to the western countries in NATO. Will this, how will you position it when it comes to the borders with Sweden? Will you strengthen the positions? Where will you strengthen the position, so to speak?

Ambassador Lute: The equipment that will be funded by the money announced last week will be largely prepositioned in countries in Western Europe, not near Sweden. And of course in the face of a crisis which could or could not include a crisis for Sweden, that equipment could move in any direction.

But of course, somewhat hidden by your question is the reality that the equipment that’s prepositioned in Western Europe to meet the U.S. commitment to NATO does not immediately affect Sweden unless Sweden were to take a national decision with regard to membership.

So it’s committed to defense of the 28, which of course could have an impact because Sweden sits on the periphery of NATO, but it doesn’t have a direct impact on Sweden.

(By NADARAJAH SETHURUPAN)

US Deputy Secretary of Defense Bob Work met with Norway’s State Secretary for Defense Oystein Bo in Washington, DC to discuss bilateral security cooperation, a spokesperson for Work, Navy Lt. Cmdr. Courtney Hillson, said in a statement on Thursday, APA reports quoting Sputnik. “During their meeting, Work and Bo discussed US-Norwegian defense cooperation efforts and highlighted the Marine Corps Prepositioning equipment in Norway,” the statement noted.The two officials also addressed the upcoming NATO Summit in Warsaw in July and the security situation in Europe and the Middle East.

“Work and Bo exchanged insights on sustaining robust military capabilities and noted the strategic, operational and tactical benefits of defense cooperation for both nations,” the statement added.

As NATO allies, the United States and Norway cooperate on a number of defense issues. US Marines were among the 15,000 troops from 14 countries to participate in Norway’s “Cold Response” military summit. The United States also has contributed tanks and mobile artillery to the training exercises, which concluded earlier this month.

US President Warns Russia against Military Build-up in Northern Europe

US President Barack Obama has warned Russia against its “aggressive” military build-up in northern Europe.
Obama made the remarks on Friday after meeting with Nordic leaders from Iceland, Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Denmark at the White House.

“We are united in our concern about Russia’s growing aggressive military presence and posture in the Baltic-Nordic region,” he said.

Meanwhile, Denmark, Norway reportedly agreed to contribute to “enhanced allied forward presence” with the North Atlantic Organization Treaty (NATO).

The United States on Thursday activated a land-based missile system in Romania, despite Russia’s warning against a systematically increasing US-led arms deployment near its borders.

The missiles’ activation marked the penultimate step in the completion of a missile shield, which Washington proposed nearly a decade ago.

Senior American and NATO officials attended the activation ceremony in Deveselu, southern Romania.

On Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin strongly criticized the deployment of the US missile system near his country, and vowed to neutralize any threats against Russia.

“Now that these anti-missile elements have been installed we will be forced to consider putting an end to the threats emerging in relation to Russia’s security,” Putin said during a meeting with military officials.

He also stressed that Moscow is doing its best to sustain strategic balance of power.

(alalam)

Exercise Cold Response 16 is underway at Bodø Main Air Station, Norway, as Norwegian, U.S. and Belgian air forces continue to showcase NATO’s and the Partners for Peace’s ability to defend against any threat, in any environment-especially a frozen one. “Cold Response is designed to test our Airmen and other countries in cold-weather operations during major combat scenarios,” said Capt. William Flynt, 555th Fighter Squadron F-16 Fighting Falcon instructor pilot and exercise project officer.Operations seemed poised for a rocky start as many of Aviano’s Airmen and equipment weren’t present when the exercise kicked off; however, the Wyverns adapted quickly to the challenge.
“Out of four C-17s, only three of them arrived on time, but we still flew the first eight sorties with 100 percent success and no down time,” said Flynt. “I’m very happy with how the team’s been doing. Our Airmen have been fantastic.”

Participants donned parkas, face shields, hats, gloves and thermal undergarments to stay warm after temperatures dropped below 30 degrees Fahrenheit throughout the first week of the exercise.
“Keeping warm has been a major challenge for our flightline Airmen, but they’re doing an amazing job,” said Capt. Quinn Evans, 555th Aircraft Maintenance Unit officer in charge. “This exercise has developed them to know how to operate in an environment they’re not normally used to, making us more combat capable.”

Pilots found that operating an F-16 in the Norwegian winter was challenging … at first.

“A lot of us are used to flying in the cold or flying when there’s snow on the ground, but not with the particular weather patterns we see here,” said Flynt. “The first part of Aviano’s mission, to ‘Deter aggression,’ is really what we’re working on here. I think being here, in this environment, has shown regional powers that we can operate anywhere.”

Exercise participants were faced with some additional challenges, but none too trying to overcome, especially with the help of NATO allies.

“There are challenges every time you deploy to a foreign country,” said Flynt. “Most are simple things, like setting up telephones. There are also some small language difficulties, but the Norwegians and the Belgians both speak excellent English. The partnership has been excellent. It’s great to know we have proficient tactical partners to the north of Italy.”

Maritime, land and air operations are ongoing as CDR16 continues to allow all forces involved, the unique opportunity to further their mission capabilities and learn from one another.

Norwegian police and military officials say one person has been killed when a tank collided with a car on a county road during a major military exercise in central Norway. The crash happened Monday in Nord Troendelag county, where the Cold Response exercise is taking place with 15,000 soldiers from NATO and partner countries.Lt. Col. Aleksander Jankov of the Norwegian Armed Forces says the tank involved in the accident was a Norwegian “armored recovery vehicle.”

He said no military personnel were injured and that the cause of the crash was being investigated by police and military police.

(AP)

A new pilot helmet with three integrated technologies for improved situational awareness has been issued to a Norwegian F-35 pilot for the first time. The U.S. Air Force reports that the Generation III F-35 Helmet Mounted Display System from Rockwell Collins was given to the in-training F-35 pilot late last week at Luke Air Force Base in Arizona.The helmet incorporates improved night vision, optics and liquid-crystal displays.
The heads-up display usually projected onto on a piece of glass at the front of the cockpit is on the helmet itself. Data such as horizon, speed, weapon status and altitude are displayed on the helmet visor so they are always in the pilot’s field of vision.

Night vision capability — including infrared — is built in so no need for special goggles.

“By integrating three advanced technologies, helmet-mounted display, head up display and visor projected night vision, the Generation III helmet allows the F-35 to become the first tactical fighter jet in 50 years without a traditional Head-Up Display system,” the Air Force said.

The new helmet is made of carbon fiber material, weighs just five pounds and is custom fitted for the pilot.

Kazakhstani parliamentarians – Vice Speaker of Majilis Abai Tasbulatov and member of the Senate’s Committee for international relations, defense and security Sergei Gromov – participated in the 61st annual session of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly from October 10 to October 12 in Stavanger, Norway, the Majilis’ press service reports.Over 300 parliamentarians from 28 NATO member countries, delegates from partner countries and observers discussed the problems of international security, paying utmost attention to the Middle East and Northern Africa crisis, relations with Russia, refugees, and terrorist attacks.

Participants also attended special sessions dedicated to political cooperation, defense and security, science and technologies, civil and economic security.

The Chairman of the NATO Military Committee, General Petr Pavel concluded a four-day trip (11 to 14 October) to Norway where he attended the 61st Session of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, visited the Joint Warfare Centre (JWC) and met His Royal Highness King Harald V of Norway.The Chairman of the NATO Military Committee, General Petr Pavel started off his country visit to Norway by addressing the members of the Defence and Security Committee of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly. He highlighted NATO’s progress on implementing the pledges made at the Wales Summit in 2014 and the challenges that still lie on the road to the Warsaw Summit in July 2015. “The Readiness Action Plan (RAP) is just the first step in adapting the Alliance for the challenges of the 21st century. The RAP will be implemented by Warsaw, and more importantly ready to deter any threat the Alliance may encounter”.
The trip was also an opportunity to visit the Joint Warfare Centre (JWC) in Stavanger, Norway. The Centre’s main task is to train NATO forces, including elements of the NATO Response Force (NRF), at the operational level to ensure they remain interoperable and fully integrated. In order to react swiftly and decisively to sudden crises, the NRF must remain ready, relevant and responsive.

While in Oslo, General Pavel, met with the Norwegian Minister of Defence, Ine Eriksen Søreide and the Norwegian Chief of Defence, Admiral Bruun-Hanssen. They discussed NATO’s response to the changed security environment and Norway’s vital role in the Alliance. “Norwegian troops contribute to NATO’s missions in Afghanistan and Kosovo. You are showing strong solidarity by leading our Baltic Air Policing mission, and through your participation in the interim Spearhead Force. Norway is also active in NATO’s exercises on land, at sea and in the air and we are grateful for your efforts to improve Nordic defence cooperation”, General Pavel emphasised.

During his flight to Kirkenes Air Base, General Pavel was able to observe a Norwegian Maritime Patrol during an Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) mission. Norway’s Maritime Patrol and Border Guard have more 100 916 km of coastline to oversee, which is twice the circumference of the Earth. Once again, the Chairman of the NATO Military Committee thanked Norway and its Armed Forces for “being such a model Ally. You play an active and effective role in keeping NATO strong”.

NATO Defence Ministers will meet this Thursday. Our meeting comes at a decisive time for our security. We see the Middle East and North Africa in turmoil. Russia’s deployment of significant forces in Syria is of great concern.Russian combat aircraft have violated Turkish airspace. This is unacceptable. That’s why I yesterday convened a special meeting of the North Atlantic Council. NATO allies expressed strong solidarity with Turkey. They condemned the Russian violations of NATO’s air space. I call on Russia to avoid escalating tensions with the Alliance. Russia must de-conflict its military activities in Syria.
I’m also concerned that Russia is not targeting ISIL, but instead attacking the Syrian opposition and civilians. I discussed the situation in Syria with Foreign Minister Lavrov in New York last week. I urge Russia to play a constructive and cooperative role in the fight against ISIL. And to strive for a negotiated political solution to the conflict in Syria.

In Ukraine, the situation remains fragile. But there are also signs of progress. I welcome the renewed efforts made by the leaders of the “Normandy Format” in Paris to fully implement the Minsk agreements.The understanding to postpone the elections planned by the separatists is a positive step. Any election must be held under Ukrainian law.

And the ceasefire is holding and is being strengthened. The parties have announced that they will pull back tanks and other weapons from the contact line. This creates hope and a momentum.

What is important now is the full implementation of the Minsk agreements. Russia has a special responsibility because Russia continues to support the separatists and to destabilize Eastern Ukraine.

The increased insecurity makes it even more important that we reinforce our collective defence.

Our Defence Ministers meeting will take three steps forward in this regard. First, to endorse the military concept for the enhanced NATO Response Force. This includes its land, sea and air components, and the command and control arrangements. This will complete the changes that will double the size of the NATO Response Force to 40.000 troops. And will make this force stronger and more capable.

Second, I expect ministers to give the green light to stand up two new Force Integration Units. Small headquarters which will play a big role. One in Hungary and one in Slovakia. This will help bolster the defences of our Allies in Central and Eastern Europe.

And third, we will look at our long-term adaptation. Ministers will also discuss the implications of Russia’s military activity, including its nuclear activities – and what it means for NATO. And we will look into how the Alliance should further adapt to the growing challenges and threats from the South.

Our enhanced NATO Response Force can already deploy to the South quickly.

But we will consider other capabilities needed to deal with the threats we face from the South.

It has been a year since I took up my post. We have made tremendous progress on putting our Readiness Action Plan into place. This is the biggest reinforcement of our collective defence since the end of the Cold War. All Allies are making substantial contributions to strengthen our shared security.

I expect Defence Ministers also to address the situation in Syria and in Afghanistan. I’m following the security situation in Afghanistan closely. I am deeply saddened by the tragic incident involving the Doctors without Borders hospital in Kunduz. My thoughts are with all those affected. A full investigation has been launched. The security situation in Afghanistan remains challenging. But the Afghan Forces are rising to the challenge. And we continue to support them.

With that I am ready to take your questions.

MODERATOR: We start in the back, please identify yourself, Europa press.

Q: Thank you. Anna Pisanaro from the Spanish News Agency Europa Press. My first question is on the incidents in Kunduz, has NATO already been able to determine whether US Forces actually did bombard the hospital of Medecins Sans Frontieres and what kind of consequences would NATO anticipate that the US would take against its forces? Also if this will precipitate in any kind of way a decision by allies whether to continue presence of the ground after 2016 or not? And my second question is on Syria, is NATO already satisfied with the explanations that Russia has already given on the incidents of the violating the Turkish air space? And my quick final question if I may Secretary General, it’s on the south, security on the south flank of the NATO, what other capabilities is NATO considering to deploy in the area? We understand that one of the options could be maritime assets in the Mediterranean but we also hear that this is a particularly challenging capacity to actually withhold and withstand in the south. Thank you.

JENS STOLTENBERG (NATO Secretary General): Thank you. Let me start by praising the extraordinary important work which Doctors Without Borders are doing many places in the world including in Afghanistan and in Kunduz. And the tragic incident, the loss of lives in the hospital is a very serious matter and therefore it is important that we now get all the facts on the table and that’s the reason why we need a full, a thorough investigation and that this is done in an open and transparent way. And when we have the facts on the table then we have a much better foundation to draw conclusions and to look into how the different operations are conducted to make sure that we do everything possible to avoid something similar to happen again. So the important thing now is to get the facts, to conduct a thorough and full investigation and then start to draw conclusions. Then your second question was about the violation of the Turkish air space. This is a consequence of the increased Russian military presence in Syria and a minimum requirement is that Russia is able to de-conflict with the ongoing coalition fighting ISIL and also of course respect the borders of Turkey including of course the air space of Turkey which also is NATO air space. And for us this doesn’t look as an accident, this is a serious violation of the air space and actually there were two violations during the weekend. So that just adds to the fact that this doesn’t look like an accident, this, the, the violation lasted for, also for a long time compared to previous violations of air space we have seen other places in Europe and therefore we take this very serious. Anyway it’s unacceptable to violate the air space of, of another country and this is exactly what we were afraid of, that incidents, accidents may create dangerous situations and therefore it is also important to make sure that this doesn’t happen again and that’s also the reason why we sent this very clear signal. We have lines of military to military communication between NATO and Russia and I think it will be natural that we use these lines also to communicate between the military authorities how serious we regard this violation of Turkish air space. The last question was on the south. First of all I would like to underline that the increased readiness, the increased preparedness, the doubling of the size of the NATO Response Force is not only a response to the challenges we see to the east with a more assertive Russia but it’s also very relevant to the challenges we see to the south. So increased preparedness, increased readiness, the High Readiness Joint Task Force or the Spearhead Force is something we of course can also deploy, use in the south if and when, if needed. So that’s also response to the south. Second we are now working on, as you mentioned, naval presence, naval forces because that’s very relevant for the south. And third I think that better situational awareness, better surveillance is key especially when we speak about all the turmoil, all the uncertainty we see to the south of the alliance. So when we now are in the process of deploying new surveillance drones which are going to be based in Sigonella in Italy then that’s very relevant for the south because new allied ground surveillance systems or the surveillance drones will increase very much our capability to understand, to see, to have situational awareness and that is of course important also for the south.

MODERATOR: AP? No, AP first and then you, AP? Yeah.

Q: I’m sorry. Secretary General I wondered, a follow up, yesterday in the statement from, that you had made there was a request for, that Russia immediately explain its violations. Have they come to you with anything further than we’ve heard publicly?

JENS STOLTENBERG: No, not any real explanation more than what we have seen, also in the media. But as I said I find it very natural, or for me it’s very natural if that, that NATO uses the military to military lines of communications, which we have kept in place exactly to address incidents like this. And this was also discussed among the allies yesterday because we have kept in place direct lines of communication between NATO military authorities and their counterparts in Russia. And I think it’s important that we use these lines to express our concern, to go through how we regard the seriousness of the violations of the Turkish air space and also to convey a very strong message also on the military level that this is something which should not happen again. And then we’ve also provided the Russians the opportunity to give an explanation directly to our military authorities.

MODERATOR: ITAR-TASS?

Q: Thank you. Denis Dubrovin, ITAR-TASS News Agency. Mr. Secretary General in 2012 there was a tragic incident when a Turkish air jet was shot down in the Syrian air space, during this incident I quote the President of Turkey Abdullah Gul has said, it is routine for jet fighter to sometimes fly in and over national borders. My question is, is it routine for NATO jets to fight, to fly in and over national borders and not to other countries air jets? And second question, we start to hear a lot about moderate Syrian opposition last days, could you please inform us who is the leader of this opposition? What are we talking about? Thank you very much.

JENS STOLTENBERG: It is not the routine of any NATO country to violate the air space of other countries and I think it’s extremely important that all nations understand the importance of respecting borders and also of course air space of other countries. I think that the situation in Syria is very fragile, there are many different groups, the important thing for the coalition which is fighting ISIL is to attack ISIL. NATO is, all NATO allies participate in that coalition, contribute to the coalition in different ways and I am concerned about, that we see that the Russian air forces are not mainly attacking ISIL but other opposition groups including those who are fighting ISIL and, and also that many civilian lives have been lost.

MODERATOR: Wall Street Journal?

Q: Mr. Secretary General you said it, the Russian violation was not an accident, the statements from Moscow they try to portray it as incidental and accidental. What makes you sure that it wasn’t an accident? Did the Russian planes lock their radar on Turkish planes?

JENS STOLTENBERG: What I said is that it doesn’t look like an accident and that we have also have seen two of them, two violations of Turkish air space during the weekend. Whether the Russian planes locked their fire control radars on the Turkish planes is something I cannot comment on. We base our assessment on the intelligence we receive, but the information, the intelligence we have received indicates or provides me with reasons to say that I, it doesn’t look like an accident what we saw in Turkey during the weekend.

MODERATOR: Agence France Press?

Q: Can I ask you about the deployment of the patriot missiles please? They’re being withdrawn at the moment, what is the position on the possible renewal of that deployment? Thank you very much.

JENS STOLTENBERG: We, we deployed the patriots to, to Turkey to augment their defences against possible missile attacks from Syria, and, and what we have seen now is something different. That’s a violation of the Turkish air space. We are constantly reviewing the security situation and we will also take decisions accordingly. And of course the Russian actions in Syria and also the violations of Turkish air space will be part or will be factored into those assessments. The patriot mission is renewed on an annual basis, the current mandate runs until the end of this year and we are now in dialogue with Turkey and in dialogue with different allies to see what we will do, what kind of presence that may be there for the next year but no decision has been taken so far.

MODERATOR: Reuters?

Q: Secretary General, thank you. Two questions, one was I wondered if you had any sense of what Russia’s motives might have been if this wasn’t an accident? Could it just be to show NATO that, for instance Syrian air space belongs now to Russia? And secondly you’ve talked about the need for dialogue, is there any possibility of convening a council or enact with Russia to discuss this? Thank you.

JENS STOLTENBERG: I will not speculate on the motives. I would just reiterate or restate that this is a serious violation of Turkish air space, it should not happen again. And, and NATO has expressed strong solidarity with Turkey and it also underlines that the increased Russian presence in Syria gives reasons for concern, both because we have seen the violation of Turkish air space but also because we have seen that the planes and the air force of Russia has not mainly targeted ISIL but they have, they have attacked other opposition groups and also many civilians have lost their lives. The other was the NATO-Russia Council, there has been no decision to convene a new meeting of the NATO-Russia Council. There has been some meetings, I think it’s two meetings, after the crisis in Ukraine started. There have been some meetings of other, after the crisis in Ukraine started. Whether there’s going to be a meeting in the foreseeable future is not, no decision has been taken so far. But what, but as I already told you we have other ways of communicating with Russians. On the political level but also on the military level with the military lines of communications and these are lines we can use in connection with incidents like the one we saw in Turkey.

MODERATOR: NPR.

Q: Hi Terry Schultz with NPR and CBS. You keep saying that you can use these lines of communication, have you? Has there been any communication other than in the media at this point to the Russian Government to demand this explanation? And secondly on Kunduz, you say that you need to get all the facts on the table. From the facts that you know, what can, the US has already said it bombed the hospital, what conclusions can you draw from that about how this is going to affect the continuing mission in Afghanistan? And one final one, how does the Russian build up, you think, hinder the coalition, the counter ISIS coalition’s actions on the ground? It seems to me there hasn’t been a de-confliction, if that’s a word? I don’t know what the noun is for that, by Russia to this point, thanks.

JENS STOLTENBERG: I can start with the last one. I welcome that there has been contacts between the US and Russia trying to, because this is a US led coalition fighting ISIL, trying to establish means or mechanisms to de-conflict and the point with de-confliction is to avoid incidents, accidents between different planes from different nations operating in the same air space. I think the US has to answer how far they have been able to get in the dialogue with Russia, NATO is not part of that dialogue because this is not a NATO operation. But I very much understand the need for establishing systems, ways to communicate, to de-conflict, to avoid incidents and accidents. And the violation of the Turkish air space just illustrates the importance of de-conflicting, at the same time violation of the air space is not about de-conflicting because that’s about actually moving into another air space. And so that’s, that’s about respecting borders and that should be something which is obvious, we don’t need to establish new mechanisms to make sure or we should not be, there is no need to establish new mechanisms to make sure that countries should respect borders because that should be obvious. But we speak more about de-conflicting activity inside the Syrian air space. The second question was on, on Afghanistan. So we have already announced that we will assess, we will make decisions related to both the level of our presence in Afghanistan, the Resolute Support force level, and also the geographical outreach, whether it’s going to be four regional spokes or bases in addition to what we have in Kabul or and whether this is going to be both a force level but also the, the numbers of bases outside Kabul whether that’s going to be reduced is an issue which we’re going to discuss and address and then make decisions later on. So that’s on the table, both the duration of the whole mission, the level of forces, the number of forces but also the, the regional outreach of the mission. So all this is now something we are going to assess, partly based on the assessment of the, this year fighting season and then we will discuss with allies and with partners because Resolute Support has also a lot of contributions from different partners, and then we will make decisions later. I cannot tell you exactly when but it’s something we constantly assess and we will make decisions when we have at least the assessment of this year fighting season. And the first question…

Q: [Inaudible] to Russia from any other means than the media?

JENS STOLTENBERG: First of all we, this happened during the weekend and today it’s Tuesday, but what we have done is to convey a very strong message partly by, through my statement and partly through the statement by the North Atlantic Council. I’m certain that the Russians have read that statement. Second I stated that I believe it’s natural to use the military lines of communication and, and then this is an issue which we already discussed and then we have to understand that the lines of communications which we have established with the Russians are in place just, or exactly to address incidents like the one we saw in Turkey during the weekend.

MODERATOR: Excuse me…

Q: [Inaudible – speaking without microphone].

MODERATOR: Excuse me.

JENS STOLTENBERG: These lines have been there for years, so.

Q: Have you called them?

JENS STOLTENBERG: They haven’t called today but, but we have discussed yesterday the possibility of using those lines.

MODERATOR: Georgian TV.

Q: Georgian Public TV, [Inaudible]. Mr. Secretary General this week you will meet with Georgian Defence and Foreign Affairs Ministers, it’s for the first time you will meet them together. So what you want to hear from them and the plans for the nearest future for Georgia? Thank you very much.

JENS STOLTENBERG: So Georgia is a, is a highly valued partner of NATO and I just visited Georgia and I opened or inaugurated the new training centre there which is part of the substantial package which we have developed together with the Georgians. We will have a NATO-Georgia Commission meeting in connection with the NATO Defence Ministerial Meeting on Thursday and that’s another element of the cooperation between, between NATO and Georgia. So I’m looking forward to meet the Defence Minister, I’m looking forward to the meeting on the NATO-Georgia Commission and this is something which is elements of the increased cooperation between NATO and Georgia.

MODERATOR: Next one.

Q: Anne Vestbakke, the Norwegian News Agency. Back to Kunduz, NATO has been training Afghan forces for years, so how ready where the Afghan forces to face the situation we now see regarding they still need American NATO support to cope?

JENS STOLTENBERG: The Afghan National Security Force and Army is a very capable army but they are facing great challenges and a lot of threats and challenges in Afghanistan. So they have proved that they are able to stand the ground, they have proved that they’re able to take responsibility for the security in Afghanistan and we have ended our combat mission. So they are now in full responsibility of the security in Afghanistan themselves. But what we have seen in Kunduz but also in other places is that they face challenges, they face a Taliban which is launching attacks on the government forces but they have been able to retake and to stand the ground again and again. So I think what we have seen is that they are capable but they are facing big challenges and we will continue to support them and no one thought that this was going to be an easy task for them but they are a big trained force supported by restive support. Let me also add that in the long run there is not a viable or sustainable solution to, to be totally dependent on foreign or NATO combat forces, a large number of combat forces deployed to Afghanistan. So in the long run it has, the Afghans has to be able to take care of their own security and that’s the reason why we have moved from having the big combat mission to the restive support mission, training, assisting and advising them. And it’s not easy but it’s in the long run the only viable solution to enable them to take care of their own security.

MODERATOR: Last question, to El Pais, please.

Q: Mr. Secretary General, how significant is the presence of Russian forces inside Syria? Does NATO have estimations of the magnitude of this presence? Whether we are talking about hundred, thousand people inside the country? Thank you.

JENS STOLTENBERG: I will not go into any specific numbers but I can confirm that we have seen a substantial build-up of Russian forces in Syria. Air forces, air defences but also then ground troops in connection with the air base they have and we also see increased naval presence of Russian ships, naval capabilities outside Syria or the eastern part of the Mediterranean. So there has been a substantial military build-up of Russia with many different kinds of capabilities, forces, over the last weeks.

MODERATOR: Thank you for coming to this press conference, we are looking forward to seeing you on Thursday and our first appointment will be at 7:45 when the Secretary General will have the media doorstep of our Defence Ministers Meeting. So looking forward to seeing you all at 7:45 in the morning on Thursday, thank you.

JENS STOLTENBERG: Thank you.

(nato)

Tinatin Khidasheli (Minister of Defence, Georgia) and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Georgia’s progress on reforms “is on the right track” Thursday (8 October 2015) after NATO Defence Ministers reviewed increased cooperation with Georgia’s Defence Minister Tinatin Khidasheli. “Georgia is one of our closest partners and we are moving steadily closer together,” Mr. Stoltenberg said.The meeting of the NATO-Georgia Commission welcomed progress made in commitments to strengthen the NATO-Georgia partnership. Mr. Stoltenberg said the substantial package of assistance agreed a year ago had now become a reality. “We have built on our political consultation and our practical cooperation,” he said. For example, NATO and Georgian troops trained together in June during Exercise Agile Spirit in Georgia. A joint training and evaluation centre was inaugurated in Tbilisi in August.
The Secretary General reaffirmed NATO’s commitment to Georgia’s Euro-Atlantic aspirations, but stressed the need for continued progress in key areas of reform, including the rule of law. He called on Russia to respect Georgia’s territorial integrity and sovereignty and to reverse its recognition of the Abkhazia and South Ossetia regions as independent states.

Separately, NATO Defence Ministers discussed NATO’s long-term political, military and institutional adaptation. “The world is changing fast and our job is to stay ahead of the threats,” Mr. Stoltenberg said. He highlighted the continued implementation of the Readiness Action Plan that was agreed at the Wales Summit last year. NATO will also strengthen its ability to counter threats including hybrid warfare, cyber attacks and missile proliferation. Ensuring effective decision-making and building on partnerships to the North, East and South will be further key areas of work ahead of the Warsaw Summit in 2016.

Prime Minister of Norway Erna Solberg announced that her country will contribute to NATO’s missile defence system. Solberg met with NATO’s Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Friday, 5 June and after the meeting she told reports that Norway is a “committed Nato member”, and therefore the country’s participation in Nato’s missile defence system is “necessary.”The missile defence system, is an international network of radar stations and anti-ballistic missile barrages. The international defence organisation wants the establishment of the defence system in Europe because it perceives ballistic missiles as a potential threat. On January, Nato’s Deputy Secretary General Alexander Vershbow had said that “rogue states can use the possession of ballistic missiles to intimidate their neighbours, extend their influence, and protect their unpopular and deteriorating regimes.”
NATO believes that the establishment of an anti-ballistic system is necessary and the recent tension with Russia, has brought an urgency in the matter.

After Friday’s meeting the Prime Minister of Norway said: “We have to go through this (Nato’s missile defence system) and look at what our contribution and participation should be related to this. According to the Local, Stoltenberg stressed that Norway’s involvement need not stretch to hosting antiballistic missile bases. “There are many ways to contribute to such a missile defence system,” he said. “I have discussed the possibilities for Norwegian contributions with the Norwegian government during my visit.”

Nato has already established radar and missile defence equipment in Poland, Romania, Spain, Turkey and the Czech Republic. Russia complains that the military system is clearly aimed to match the country’s military power and the establishment of such a system in the Nordic countries would certainly cause Russia’s diplomatic reaction.

Already in March, Russian ambassador to Denmark Mikhail Vanin sent a letter to a Danish newspaper warning the government of Denmark not to participate in the system. “Denmark will be part of the threat to Russia. If it happens, then Danish warships will be targets for Russia’s nuclear weapons,” he had said.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and the President of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, together with Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko, opened a joint NATO-Ukraine civil emergency exercise in Yavoriv on Monday (21 September 2015), at the start of his first official visit to Ukraine which is to highlight the partnership between NATO and Ukraine.“This exercise can make a real and significant difference to the way we respond to real life emergencies,” the Secretary General said. “This is not a military exercise. It is an opportunity for first responders – from Allies and from partner nations – to work together.”
The four-day exercise, which involves 28 NATO and partner nations, shows the practical value of the NATO-Ukraine partnership, said Mr. Stoltenberg. “By hosting this exercise you are showing that Ukraine wants to contribute to the safety of the European people and to the security of the Euro-Atlantic area,” he said. During his two-day visit, the Secretary General will meet with President Poroshenko and Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk and other senior Ukrainian officials, including parliamentarians. Their talks are expected to focus on Ukraine’s reform efforts and future NATO-Ukraine cooperation.

The Secretary General’s visit signals NATO’s strong support for Ukraine and efforts to further strengthen NATO-Ukraine cooperation. Speaking at a joint press conference with President Poroshenko, he also spoke of the current decrease in fighting between government forces and the separatists, saying “what we have seen is that the ceasefire is mainly holding and this is encouraging because this was not the case before. But still, the situation is very fragile.” He stressed that “the way to reach a peaceful negotiated solution to the crisis in eastern Ukraine is the Minsk Agreements.” He added that full implementation was essential “meaning also that Russia has to stop supporting separatists in eastern Ukraine.”

The “Ukraine 2015” exercise is jointly run by NATO’s Euro-Atlantic Disaster Response Coordination Centre (EADRCC) and the State Emergency Service of Ukraine (SESU). More than 1,100 people are taking part, including first responders, search and rescue teams and experts dealing with the fallout from a chemical or nuclear attack. The exercise will test the skills of participants in dealing with a mine explosion and collapse. It is the third time Ukraine has hosted this exercise. Following the official opening, the Secretary General watched a demonstration of modern equipment and assets being used in the exercise.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg meets the Prime Minister of Norway, Erna Solberg

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg arrived Wednesday at an air base in northern Norway, which has served as a hub for a large cross-border aerial exercise involving six NATO members and three other participating countries. “My first official visit to Norway. I feel quite at home. And safe – thanks for the escort,” Stoltenberg – a former Norwegian premier – tweeted as two Norwegian F16 fighter jets flew alongside his plane to the Bodo air base.Norway has led the Arctic Challenge Exercise 2015, described as “one of the largest of its kind,” involving more than 4,000 personnel and over 100 planes.
In addition to the Bodo base, the exercise that ends Thursday has involved use of a wide area of airspace and bases in non-NATO members Finland and Sweden, who are co-hosts.

Britain, France, Germany, the Netherlands and the United States are part of the exercise, along with non-NATO member Switzerland.

At Bodo, Stoltenberg, was to meet with Ine Eriksen Soreide, Norwegian defence minister, and see the Norwegian Air Force demonstrate its ability to scramble F16 jets. Bodo is close to flight paths used by Russian military aircraft.

As of early June, Norwegian jets have conducted 17 identification missions off Norway and identified 28 Russian planes, which is in line with earlier years, a military spokesman told public broadcaster NRK.

“Russian activity has increased in the north, and Bodo is one of Norway‘s most important contributions to NATO,” Stoltenberg told news agency NTB.

Russia recently conducted a four-day surprise combat-readiness exercise involving 12,000 troops and 250 military aircraft.

(dpa)

Norway supports Georgia’s NATO membership and will remain faithful to this idea at the next summit of the Alliance. Norway’s support for Georgia was voiced by the nation’s Foreign Minister Borge Brende, who paid an official visit to Tbilisi yesterday, Agenda.ge reports.”For the next summit we will necessarily toe the line that Georgia should become a NATO member,” said Brende at a press conference held together with Georgia’s Foreign Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili.

This was Brende’s first Georgia visit.

“I am glad that cooperation and partnership between the two countries has begun and will continue in the future,” he said.

The Norwegian official praised Georgia’s reform progress and said the country’s recent democratic development was “impressive”.

NATO Secretary General Mr. Jens Stoltenberg will visit Norway from Wednesday 3 June to Friday 5 June, 2015. Mr. Stoltenberg will have an audience with His Royal Highness Crown Prince Haakon. He will meet with Prime Minister, Ms. Erna Solberg, Minister of Finance, Ms. Siv Jensen, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Børge Brende and Minister of Defence, Ms. Ine Marie Eriksen Søreide.At the Parliament, Mr. Stoltenberg will meet with the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence. The Secretary General will also visit Bodø airbase and deliver a keynote speech at the University of Oslo.

(Nadarajah Sethurupan)

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg meets the Prime Minister of Norway, Erna Solberg

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has thanked Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg for her country’s important contributions to the Alliance. In Oslo on Friday (5 June 2015), Mr. Stoltenberg stressed that the Alliance is adapting and staying strong in the face of security challenges to the east and the south. He commended Norway for its participation in NATO missions and operations, as well as for its strong political support.“You are part of the interim spearhead force; you are doing air policing in the Baltics; and you are investing in new capabilities that will increase your contributions to NATO,” the Secretary General said. He added, “your presence in the European High North is significant to NATO.”
Mr. Stoltenberg discussed NATO’s response to the changed security environment with Prime Minister Solberg, as well as with Finance Minister Siv Jensen, Foreign Minister Børge Brende, Defence Minister Ine Marie Eriksen Søreide, and other senior officials. He also met with the President of the Norwegian Parliament, and held talks with the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence.

The Secretary General is concluding a three-day trip to Norway. On Wednesday, he visited Bodø Airbase in northern Norway, and on Thursday he met with His Royal Highness Crown Prince Haakon, and delivered a speech at the University of Oslo.

Speaking of his native country, Mr. Stoltenberg said “Norway is the twentieth NATO Ally I visit as Secretary General; and I must admit that I feel quite at home.”

About 100 fighter jets and 4,000 personnel from the United States and eight European nations began an Arctic training exercise in the Nordic nations on May 25. The exercise, based in the north of Norway, Sweden and Finland, aims to test cooperation among Arctic nations near Russia.NATO members involved were the United States, Germany, Britain, France, the Netherlands and Norway, as well as nonmembers Sweden, Finland, and Switzerland, which are linked to the alliance via NATO’s partnership for peace.
Russia has also conducted huge military exercises in the Arctic region and has stepped up military activity around the Nordic and Baltic region.

Meanwhile, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin told state television late May 24, after the host asked him whether Europe and the United States are concerned about Russia’s presence in the Arctic, “I’ve always joked about it… so what if they won’t give us visas, put us on sanctions list… tanks don’t need visas.”

Rogozin, who formerly served as an envoy to NATO, is on the sanctions list of both the U.S. Treasury and the European Union following Russia’s annexation of Crimea in March 2014.

Last May his plane was prevented from flying over EU member Romania, after which he wrote: “Next time I will fly in a Tu-160″ bomber, provoking protest from the Romanian Foreign Ministry who called it a “serious threat.”

The exercise, lasting from May 25 to June 5, was planned before Moscow’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea region last year raised regional tensions.

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said Thursday Russia is not an immediate threat, but condemned Russia for its lack of cooperation with its neighbors. Stoltenberg, in his native Norway on his first official visit as NATO Secretary-General, told state broadcaster NRK in an interview Wednesday, “What we see is more unpredictability, more insecurity, more unrest… I believe we don’t see any immediate threat against any NATO country from the east.””Our goal is still cooperation with Russia,” he added. “That serves NATO and it serves Russia.”
Thursday, in an address at the University of Oslo, Stoltenberg was critical of Russian relations with neighboring countries.

“The prerequisite for cooperation with neighboring countries is to respect their borders, and that has not been the case when it comes to Russia. Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine are clear examples of this, as well as the Baltic countries, which are constantly facing challenges as a result of Russia’s rhetoric.”

Stoltenberg, a former Norwegian prime minister, also visited Bodo air base, accompanied by Defense Minister Ina Marie Eriksen Soreide, where he was briefed on the proficiency of Norway’s air force and watched a demonstration of F-16 fighter planes.

(UPI)

PRESIDENT OBAMA: It is a great pleasure to welcome my friend, former Prime Minister of Norway, Jens Stoltenberg, back to the Oval Office. The last time he was here he came as a Prime Minister. He’s now the Secretary General of NATO. And we’ve had an excellent discussion.

Before I mention some of the topics that we discussed on NATO, let me just say a couple of things. First of all, I had a chance this morning to talk to Governor Abbott of Texas to express condolences for the terrible flooding that’s been taking place there. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families and the communities that have been affected by some of these devastating, record-breaking floods.

I assured Governor Abbott that he could count on the help of the federal government. We have FEMA personnel already on the ground. They are coordinating with Texas Emergency Management authorities, and I will anticipate that there will be some significant requests made to Washington. My pledge to him is that we will expedite those requests to make sure that both search-and-rescue operations where necessary, but also recovery operations occur as efficiently and as quickly as possible.

The second thing I want to just mention very quickly — last week, Congress obviously was busy. It left town without finishing necessary work on FISA and some of the reforms that are necessary to the Patriot Act.

I said over a year ago that it was important for us to properly balance our needs for security with civil liberties. And this administration engaged on a bipartisan, bicameral basis, talking to Republicans and Democrats about how we could preserve necessary authorities but provide the public greater assurance that those authorities were not being abused.

The House of Representatives did its work and came up with what they’ve called the USA Freedom Act, which strikes an appropriate balance. Our intelligence communities are confident that they can work with the authorities that are provided in that act. It passed on a bipartisan basis and overwhelmingly. It was then sent to the Senate. The Senate did not act. And the problem we have now is that those authorities run out at midnight on Sunday.

So I strongly urge the Senate to work through this recess and make sure that they identify a way to get this done. Keep in mind that the most controversial provision in there, which had to do with the gathering of telephone exchanges in a single government database — that has been reformed in the USA Freedom Act. But you have a whole range of authorities that are also embodied in the Patriot Act that are non-controversial, that everybody agrees are necessary to keep us safe and secure. Those also are at risk of lapsing.

So this needs to get done. And I would urge folks to just work through whatever issues can still exist, make sure we don’t have, on midnight Sunday night, this task still undone, because it’s necessary to keep the American people safe and secure.

Now, with respect to NATO, obviously this is a challenging and important time for NATO, and we are very lucky to have General Secretary Stoltenberg at the helm during this time. We had a chance to discuss the situation in Ukraine and the increasingly aggressive posture that Russia has taken, and we affirmed that NATO is the cornerstone not just of transatlantic security but, in many ways, is the cornerstone for global security.

In Wales, we were able to not only affirm the intentions of the Alliance to uphold its Article 5 obligations, but we also put in place a whole host of measures to reassure frontline states and to put in place what we call the Readiness Action plan. That is currently being implemented, and I was pleased to hear that not only the United States but our other NATO allies have been doing what’s necessary to make sure that we have positioned the resources and assets necessary to protect all NATO members.

We also reaffirmed the importance of implementing the Minsk Agreement and ensuring that Ukraine is able to enjoy the same territorial integrity and sovereignty as any other country. And we’ll continue to support Ukraine through the NATO-Ukraine partnership that pre-dates the crisis that occurred both in Crimea and now in eastern Ukraine.

We also had an opportunity to discuss the fact that NATO is involved not just in the fault line of East and West that has traditionally been NATO’s concern; NATO is necessarily recognizing a whole range of global challenges, particularly on what we call the Southern Front. And we are working closely with NATO allies to make sure that we are partnering with other countries to address issues of counterterrorism; making sure that we continue to coordinate effectively in the fight against ISIL — because all 28 NATO members are members of the coalition to support the Iraqi government against the ISIL fight; to address the challenges that exist in Libya — right across from the Mediterranean, and obviously there’s great concern among a number of NATO members about the spillover effects of a chaotic situation there.

That means increased defense capacity-building with other countries like Iraq or GCC countries that are interested in working with us, as well as the African Union. It also means that we have to think about whether we are deploying and arranging our assets effectively to meet that goal.

And finally, we had a chance to discuss not only how NATO is positioned but also making sure that we finish the job with respect to Afghanistan. And when we meet in Warsaw later this year, we’ll have an opportunity to assess how we will continue to support the Afghan National Security Forces, now that we have transitioned out of our combat mission, to make sure that they can do the job, that they can secure and protect their own country. That will require resources, training, and assistance from not only the United States but also from all NATO countries. And I’m very gratified that the General Secretary I think has made this an important focus of the work that’s to be done.

So we have a busy agenda. There are many challenges. The one thing that we know is that NATO is going to be a central component of us being able to meet those challenges. And as the strongest alliance in the history of the world, we need to make sure that each member country is properly resourcing and committing to the NATO missions that have been set forth. That’s the only way that we’re going to maintain the kind of collective self-defense that has been the hallmark of peace and prosperity for many, many decades now.

Jens.

SECRETARY GENERAL STOLTENBERG: Thank you. It’s great to be back in the White House and to meet with the President of the United States, Barack Obama. And, Barack, it’s great to meet you again, also because I feel that we have very much developed a common understanding that the Alliance is facing a new security environment.

And I would like to start to thank you for everything that you personally have done to show leadership in a time where we really need U.S. leadership, and also the initiative you took — the European Reassurance Initiative — which you launched a year ago and which has been of great importance when it comes to U.S. presence in Europe. And the U.S. military presence in Europe is the key to provide reassurance to all allies.

And I have traveled around the Alliance, and all the places I have gone I have met U.S. servicemen and women. And the message they send is the same — that America stands with Europe, Europe and America stand together, and NATO will defend and protect all allies against enemy threat.

This is even more important because we are facing new threats, new challenges, coming both from the east and from the south. And as you stated, or as you said, we are adapting, we are responding, we are increasing the readiness and the preparedness of our forces. European allies are taking the lead in establishing a speed of force — in this joint task force. And in addition, we have the great commitment and the contributions from the United States.

And altogether, this is the biggest reinforcement of our collective defense since the end of the Cold War. And we are also setting up command-and-control units in all the eastern ally countries, underlining that NATO is present, NATO is there to protect and defend all allies.

We discussed Crimea, Ukraine, and the importance of the full implementation of the Minsk Agreements. That’s the path to peace, and I urge all parties to fully implement the Minsk Agreements, and Russia to stop supporting the separatists and to rid all its forces from eastern Ukraine.

When it comes to the south, I welcome that all NATO allies are contributing to the U.S.-led coalition against ISIL. NATO, in addition, supports countries in the region to increase their ability to defend themselves, to create stability. And the aim is to be able to project stability without always deploying large number of forces.

Defense capacity-building is, therefore, key to NATO. We have increased our support for Jordan. We are in the process of developing defense capacity-building for Iraq. And we stand ready to do so also in Libya when the situation on the ground allows.

And of course, we will continue to support Afghanistan also after the end of our current mission, to continue to support Afghans to be able to take care of their own security also in the future.

All of this will require resources, both for collective defense, for cooperative security, for defense capacity-building. And therefore, they are high on my agenda. The main topic I raise in all capitals always is the importance of delivering on the defense investment pledge we made to stop the cuts in defense budgets and to start, gradually to increase and to aim at 2 percent.

The U.S. is already well above that, so this is something which is about all the allies. And I spend a lot of time urging them to increase their defense budgets because we need more resources to be able to deliver what we already promised both when it comes to collective defense and when it comes to cooperative security.

We will meet again at — all allies will meet again at the NATO summit in July in Warsaw, 2016. I’m looking forward to that because that will be a basis for taking stock of the progress we have made, but also to chart the course forward. And the key issue is always the unity, the cohesion of the Alliance. I am very grateful for your strong personal commitment to the Alliance, to transatlantic security. And I’m looking forward to continuing to work together with you.

Thank you.

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Thank you.

Thank you, everybody.