NATO defence ministers could not reach an agreement on Friday over fresh strategies related to response to any attack by Russia, and one of the diplomats accused Turkey of obstructing them.
The ministers discussed new plans at a two-day summit in Brussels. This was the first major discussion on anticipation of an attack since Cold War, which was spurred on by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, according to NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg. The ministers were almost on the verge of approving the agreement when it failed.
However, a diplomat said that Turkey had obstructed permission due to the language of geographic regions, including Cyprus. The official noted that there was still time to come up with a solution before the NATO summit in Vilnius in the middle of July.
Thousands of pages worth of top-secret military documents make up the so-called regional plans, which describe how the alliance would react in the event of a Russian invasion.
The creation of the documents represents a significant change. As it fought minor wars in Afghanistan for decades, NATO had no need for comprehensive defence strategies. NATO will also provide governments with recommendations on how to modernise their armies and logistics.
As the most destructive war ever since 1945 going on around NATO borders, there is an ever-increasing need for a well-structured planning in place in case its neighbour Russia attacks any of its members.
Talking to British news agency Reuters, a senior US official said, “While regional plans were not formally endorsed today, we anticipate these plans will be part of a series of deliverables for the Vilnius Summit in July.”
