Amid growing tensions over Russia's military actions, NATO celebrates a new anniversary of its creation as an alliance of countries that came together to ensure joint military protection. Today the organization is experiencing dynamism, but at the same time enormous challenges. The delivery of aid to Ukraine and the possible arrival of Donald Trump to the White House keep the member countries expectant.
This Thursday, April 4, NATO celebrates its 75th anniversary as a collective defense bloc in Europe and North America and takes advantage of the occasion to reaffirm its commitment to supporting Ukraine against the Russian invasion that turned two years old on February 24.
Amid the celebration and tensions with Russia, 32-nation alliance discusses plan to provide long-term military support to Ukrainewhich is currently facing a shortage of ammunition and personnel, so has lowered the military recruitment age from 27 to 25 to increase its forces.
“Ukraine is under heavy attack, daily, 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” declared Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna, urging more military hardware to be provided to Ukraine, including air defense systems. , drones and artillery projectiles, according to quotes from Reuters and AP.
“We need to hand over these systems, which we are not using, to Ukraine, to protect its people, its civil infrastructure and also its energy infrastructure,” Tsahkna added before a ceremony with his counterparts to commemorate the signing of NATO's founding treaty. which occurred on December 4, 1949 in Washington.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg highlighted that the Washington Treaty is very brief and said that “just 14 paragraphs in a few pages” have had a great weight in terms of security, prosperity and peace.
For his part, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken paid tribute on Wednesday, prior to the anniversary, “to the millions of soldiers, sailors and airmen whose courage and willingness to risk their lives have given weight to our sacred commitment to defend each other.” to others”.
Blinken warned that, despite more than seven decades of peace, The security and founding principles of the Alliance are “threatened by those who believe that might makes right and who seek to redraw borders by force.”
Meanwhile, a meeting of NATO leaders scheduled in Washington is expected to take place from July 9 to 11, within the framework of the 75th anniversary.
Meanwhile, military aid to Ukraine is the focus of the Alliance foreign ministers' meeting. “Today, allies have agreed to advance planning for NATO to play a greater role in coordinating security assistance and training,” said Alliance Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.
Stoltenberg's proposal includes creating a fund for Ukraine with 100 billion euros over five years, a promise that for the Belgian Foreign Minister, Hadja Lahbib, is “dangerous” given the possibility that it will not be fulfilled.
Russia targets NATO as tensions rise
The Kremlin accused NATO on Thursday of continuing to be an “instrument of confrontation in Europe that is at the service of the United States” and described the Alliance as “a destabilizing factor.”
“NATO continues to demonstrate its essence, as it It was conceived as an alliance, configured, created and directed by the US as an instrument of confrontation, especially on the European continent.. And, in this regard, he continues to fulfill his function,” said Dmitri Peskov, Kremlin spokesman, during his daily telephone press conference.
Peskov assured that this bloc “at the current moment does not contribute in any way to the security, predictability and stability of security on the continent.”
Regarding relations between Russia and NATO, the official stressed that “practically, these relations have reached a level of direct confrontation.”
Peskov referred to the war in Ukraine by maintaining that “NATO countries, the Alliance itself, are not constantly increasing (their presence), but rather has already been involved in the Ukraine conflict.
While, Russia accused the allies of continuing their approach and reinforcing the presence of their military infrastructure towards the Russian border.
The Kremlin has been accusing NATO for months of directly participating in the war in Ukraine by supplying huge quantities of weapons to kyiv, which, according to Moscow, will only prolong the conflict and the suffering of Ukrainians.
However, Russian President Vladimir Putin has denied plans to attack NATO member countries, a version that was confirmed this Thursday by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who called such suspicions “nonsense and nonsense.” At the same time, the diplomat warned that NATO was approaching Russia's borders.
Concerns and adhesions
The participation of Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billström in the first ministerial-level meeting since his country became NATO's 32nd ally last month raised concerns about a possible large-scale Russian incursion, such as as happened in Ukraine in 2022, which led Sweden and Finland to seek alliance protection
The Finnish Minister of Foreign Affairs, Elina Valtonen, stressed that “NATO represents the freedom to choose” and added that: “Democratic nations and free peoples decided to unite. Unlike how Russia expands its borders through aggression or illegal annexation.”
NATO's promise of collective security, set out in Article 5 of the Washington Treaty, which mandates a united response in the event of an attack, has led to a swell in the Alliance's ranks, with Sweden and Finland joining at one time record to guarantee its protection.
For her part, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock denounced to the press that “provocations have increased in recent months, especially with respect to our eastern partners and friends.” However, she took it upon herself to make it “clear” on this anniversary that “we will continue to safeguard our freedom, our democracy and our peace. “
Trump and the challenges of NATO
In addition to the ongoing war conflicts, NATO has other challenges on the political level, in a year marked by important elections. The US presidential election offers a stark contrast in terms of the US role in the Alliance.
And the possible arrival of Donald Trump to the White House keeps members expectant, who will try to continue managing differences over how involved it should be in Asia, with the United States pushing for a greater role in the competition with China, while others, like France, insist that NATO must maintain its focus on the North Atlantic area, according to analysts consulted by the Reuters agency.
“President Trump is anything but predictable, and from the Russian perspective, it is valuable to at least know how the United States is going to react to certain actions that Russia might take,” explained Nicholas Lokker, a research associate at the Center for a New American Security. .
Along these lines, he said that “even if it is going to be a confrontational relationship, it is valuable to have predictability there, especially when it comes to issues related to nuclear weapons, where you need to have strategic stability and where you cannot work with a leader. unpredictable of another nuclear power.
Donald Trump, during his period as president of the United States, called on member countries to send the funds owed to NATO, otherwise they would not receive military aid in the face of a Russian offensive. A threat he renewed. “The one that really benefits the least is the United States. We are the ones that benefit the least. We are helping Europe,” declared the magnate.
In a speech to supporters, Trump recalled: “I got them to pay. NATO was ruined until I arrived. I said, 'Everyone is going to pay.' They said, 'Well, if we don't pay, are they still going to protect us?' I said, 'Of course not.' “They couldn't believe the answer.”
In contrast, Joe Biden, current US president, previously stated about Trump's actions regarding the Alliance: “A former Republican president tells Putin: 'Do what you want' (…) bowing to a Russian leader. I think he is outrageous. He is dangerous. And he is unacceptable.”
Some events that marked the history of NATO
NATO began with 12 members from North America and Europe, founded in response to growing fears that the Soviet Union was becoming a military threat to European democracies.
Under the premise of collective defense, an attack on one of its member countries is considered an attack on all, which may mean granting US military protection to Western Europe.
Among NATO's most notable achievements since its founding is its 1999 air campaign against the former Yugoslavia to stop repression against ethnic Albanian separatists, as well as its intervention to prevent a civil war in Macedonia in 2001, following the commitment to peace and stability in the region after the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Berlin Wall.
Article 5 of the Treaty has only been used once, after the Al-Qaeda attacks on US soil in 2001.
The operation in Afghanistan is on the opposite side of the Alliance's successes. NATO took command of the security effort in 2003 and it became the longest, most expensive and deadliest in the Alliance's history. It was marked by a chaotic withdrawal in August 2021, when many of the hits of almost two decades were abandoned.
With AP, EFE and Reuters
