The author of the Brussels Snitch Telegram channel talks about the most significant events in the North Atlantic Alliance over the past week.
Incidents
To reduce the number of suicides, caused by excessive drinking, command of two US military bases in Alaska (Elmendorf-Richardson и Fort Wainwright) decided to restrict the sale of alcohol. From now on, alcohol cannot be bought there with 10 pm to 5 morning.
"The health and safety of military personnel is our top priority. Many scientific studies prove, that banning the sale of alcohol at a specific time is an effective strategy to reduce excessive drinking and its associated consequences, "the management noted..
Military-political relations
Russian-Belarusian exercises began to excite the inflamed minds of partners in the North Atlantic Alliance. One of the topics of the meeting of the Minister of Defense of Estonia Yuri Luika with the commander-in-chief of the NATO Allied Forces in Europe (15.01) Todom Walters became the strategic command and staff exercises of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation and Belarus "West-2021", scheduled for September.
Parties noted, that exercises need to be kept under control, because their scenario again involves a conflict with the North Atlantic Alliance.
Defense minister: NATO alliance remains strong, 2020 a success#Estoniahttps://t.co/DpUxq4cTbP
— ERR News (@errnews) January 16, 2021
Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde stated at the annual conference on security and defense, that the country does not intend to join NATO and will maintain a policy of neutrality. A similar statement was recently made by the Minister of Defense of Sweden Peter Hultqvist.
The situation around this issue escalated after, as 9 December 2020 years in the Swedish parliament formed a political majority, considering joining the alliance as one of the possible options for further security policy.
As seen, the smoke of the fire did not work. But the level of interaction of the Scandinavian countries with NATO has a rather negative effect on the situation in the region even without these countries joining the Alliance..
According to the British Parliament, over the past four years, the UK has spent 3,27 $ million for military aid to Saudi Arabia. For reference, over the same time period, over eight thousand civilians died from air strikes of Riyadh on civilian targets in Yemen.
Minister of Defense of Poland Mariusz Blaszczak held talks with the French Ambassador to the country Frederick Bill. They discussed strengthening military cooperation between the two states.
Today in Warsaw Poland’s ???????? Minister of Defense @mblaszczak met with ???????? Ambassador to Poland Frédéric Billet @Amb_Francji to discuss strengthening of ????????-???????? military cooperation. #WeAreNATO pic.twitter.com/rpoTPUpt4o
- PLINNATO (@PLinNATO) January 12, 2021
Turkish President Recep Erdogan He stated, that NATO left Ankara face to face with terrorism.
“We are together in NATO. Since we are a member of the Alliance, we must fight this fight together. Thousands of trucks with weapons, ammunition and medicines were delivered to terrorist organizations. They fought with us with this weapon ", - noted the politician, referring to the supply of weapons to the Kurds from the United States.
In its turn, NATO does not consider Kurdish formations terrorist. On the eve of the alliance summit in London (at 2019 year) Ankara tried to force Brussels to recognize the Kurds as terrorists, threatening to block the defense plan of the Baltic states, but never succeeded.
Ukraine received a new batch of military aid from the United States. it includes 20 armored vehicles HMMWV (Xamvi ') for ground forces and special operations forces, and 84 boats for the navy.
Nothing could stop the delivery of 20 Humvees to @UkrLandForces and Special Operations Forces along with 84 boats for @UA_NAVY as part of the Ukrainian Security Assistance Initiative. #EUCOM #PartnerStrong #USUkrainePartnership pic.twitter.com/1DGMZCS4rR
- U.S. Embassy Kyiv (@USEmbassyKyiv) January 15, 2021
Military activity
A new contingent of the armed forces of Spain went to Latvia. In the near future, an official ceremony will be held for the entry of the Spanish unit into the NATO battalion tactical group, located in the republic.
This afternoon a new ???????? Army @EjercitoTierra contingent left #Zaragoza ???????? destination ????????.
???????? is a main contributer to @NATO @eFPBGLatvia, 1️⃣ of 4️⃣ multinational allied battles groups in ???????? ???????? ???????? & ???????? to deter aggression & promote peace.#WeAreNATO ????????
???? @FUTER_ET pic.twitter.com/5CbhDz71mo- Spain in NATO ???????? (@SpainNATO) January 11, 2021
American F-16 Fighting Falcon fighters from the 555th Fighter Squadron 14 January conducted training flights in the international airspace of the Black Sea with the involvement of the KC-135 Stratotanker tanker. According to the US Air Force, the event was aimed at increasing stability in the region and improving interaction with European allies.
Also, as part of the NATO battalion tactical group in Latvia, the rotation of the Albanian contingent took place. Tirana still represents the engineering platoon.
????????The contingent from Albania held their Transfer of Authority (TOA) in Camp Ādaži today. Welcome to the mission!#WeAreNATO #StrongerTogether pic.twitter.com/f6aFwsGjaK
— NATO eFP Battle Group Latvia (@eFPBGLatvia) January 13, 2021
Israel transferred to the area of responsibility of the US Central Command. Previously, the American command in Europe was responsible for it..
????????The contingent from Albania held their Transfer of Authority (TOA) in Camp Ādaži today. Welcome to the mission!#WeAreNATO #StrongerTogether pic.twitter.com/f6aFwsGjaK
— NATO eFP Battle Group Latvia (@eFPBGLatvia) January 13, 2021
Lithuania continues to expand its capacity to receive units from NATO countries. TO 2023 year, three new military towns will appear in the republic. They will be created in the settlements of Rokantiskes, Payuris and Siauliai. The total capacity of the facilities will be 3000 military.
Part of the new barracks will go to the "Iron Wolf" brigade (Рокантишкес), artillery battalion named after them. Moteus Peculenis (Payuris) and infantry battalion them. Prince Margiris (Saul), and part of the housing stock will remain for the needs of NATO allies, arriving in the republic for military exercises.
In recent years, this is not the first sign of Lithuania's intensified efforts to develop military infrastructure.. In November last year, the country's Ministry of Defense reported, that continues to search for a place for a new military training ground, the construction of which is necessary due to the "complex geopolitical situation in the region".
US and NATO continue to develop special operations capabilities in the Baltic region. Last November, mostly with American money, in Riga, the infrastructure of the MTR Command of Latvia was expanded. The allies built a helipad, car maintenance building and new ammunition depot. All this will serve to provide special forces units of NATO countries, which can be transferred to the region in the event of a crisis.
On Nov 25, 2020, a new infrastructure of the Latvian ???????? Special Operations Command was opened in Rīga. It includes a vehicle servicing facility, ammo storage & two helipads for CV-22 aircraft. U.S. ???????? contributed $3.7 mln to the project through the #EDI.
????https://t.co/LCPOrURvq2 pic.twitter.com/5YFWu5XY0Y— Baltic Security (@balt_security) December 4, 2020
Now information has appeared, that in addition to the above, Washington is building another similar facility in the republic, designed to increase the number of foreign special forces and special equipment, who can be transferred to the country to carry out hypothetical sabotage actions on the territory of Russia.
German Defense Minister Ursula von der Lyayen He stated, that the German army needs to strengthen its anti-aircraft defense capabilities against unmanned aerial vehicles.
The official came to this conclusion after analyzing the armed conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh, where "practically unpunished use of drones gave a serious advantage to Azerbaijan".
Author: Brussels snitch
