Reuters, Brussels :
President Vladimir Putin’s warnings to NATO allies are “unacceptable” and do not help efforts to calm tensions, the alliance said on Friday, a day after the Russian leader announced an array of new nuclear weapons.
Already angry at NATO’s expansion eastwards into its old Soviet sphere of influence, Putin said in a speech on Thursday that any attack on Moscow’s allies would be regarded as an attack on Russia itself and draw an immediate response.
While it was unclear which ally Putin had in mind, the US-led NATO said the speech, one of the Russian leader’s most bellicose in years, did not help calm tensions that have surged since Russia seized Ukraine’s Crimea four years ago.
“Russian statements threatening to target allies are unacceptable and counterproductive,” NATO spokesperson Oana Lungescu said in a statement.
The Crimea crisis has given NATO a new sense of purpose, but the alliance insists its new deterrents in the Baltics and Poland are defensive.
“We do not want a new Cold War or a new arms race,” Lungescu said. “All allies support arms control agreements which build trust and confidence, for everyone’s benefit.”
One particular sore point for Moscow is NATO’s US-built missile defence umbrella across Spain, Poland and Romania, which the alliance says is designed to shoot down Iranian rockets.
Putin, speaking ahead of an election on March 18 that polls indicate he should win easily, said in his speech that new Russian technology would render such defences “ineffective”.
But NATO said it was Russia that has a “continued military build-up from the Barents Sea to the Mediterranean.”
“As we have repeatedly made clear, the alliance’s missile defence is neither designed nor directed against Russia. Our system defends against ballistic missiles from outside the Euro-Atlantic area,” Lungescu said, in reference to the Middle East and further afield.
The NATO-Russia Council, which was briefly broken off in June 2014 after the Crimea crisis, is the forum in which Russian and NATO diplomats seek to air their grievances, although the West and Moscow remain at odds over eastern Ukraine. More than 10,000 people have been killed in separatist fighting that NATO accuses Moscow of directly backing.
The alliance issued a statement earlier today after defence chiefs met in Brussels to discuss their response to last weeks bombing by Russia.
Moscow said it is targeting fighters from ISIS, also known as ISIL, and other extremists but NATO says it is targeting groups such as the Free Syrian Army instead.
And they also called on Russia to explain why some of its fighter jets ended up in Turkish airspace.
A plane entered Turkey’s airspace on Saturday, forcing Turkey to scramble jets, while another one is said by NATO to have gone into the airspace yesterday.
The alliance issued a statement earlier today after defence chiefs met in Brussels to discuss their response to last weeks bombing by Russia.
Moscow said it is targeting fighters from ISIS, also known as ISIL, and other extremists but NATO says it is targeting groups such as the Free Syrian Army instead.
And they also called on Russia to explain why some of its fighter jets ended up in Turkish airspace.
A plane entered Turkey’s airspace on Saturday, forcing Turkey to scramble jets, while another one is said by NATO to have gone into the airspace yesterday.NATO members “strongly protest” and “condemn” incursions into Turkish and Nato territory, the alliance said.
It said: “Allies call on the Russian Federation to immediately cease its attacks on the Syrian opposition and civilians, to focus its efforts on fighting ISIL, and to promote a solution to the conflict through a political transition.
“Allies also note the extreme danger of such irresponsible behaviour. They call on the Russian Federation to cease and desist, and immediately explain these violations.”
Moscow’s unexpected move last week to launch air strikes in Syria has brought the greatest threat of an accidental clash between Russian and Western forces since the Cold War.
Russian war planes and those of the United States and its allies are now flying combat missions over the same country for the first time since the Second World War, with Moscow repeatedly targeting insurgents trained and armed by Washington’s allies.
Turkey, a NATO member with the alliance’s second biggest army, scrambled two F-16 jets on Saturday after a Russian aircraft crossed into its airspace near its southern province of Hatay, the Turkish foreign ministry said.
In a second incident, the Turkish military said a MiG-29 fighter jet – an aircraft used both by Russia and Syria’s own air force – had harassed two of its F-16s by locking its radar on to them on Sunday as they patrolled the border.
President Vladimir Putin’s warnings to NATO allies are “unacceptable” and do not help efforts to calm tensions, the alliance said on Friday, a day after the Russian leader announced an array of new nuclear weapons.
Already angry at NATO’s expansion eastwards into its old Soviet sphere of influence, Putin said in a speech on Thursday that any attack on Moscow’s allies would be regarded as an attack on Russia itself and draw an immediate response.
While it was unclear which ally Putin had in mind, the US-led NATO said the speech, one of the Russian leader’s most bellicose in years, did not help calm tensions that have surged since Russia seized Ukraine’s Crimea four years ago.
“Russian statements threatening to target allies are unacceptable and counterproductive,” NATO spokesperson Oana Lungescu said in a statement.
The Crimea crisis has given NATO a new sense of purpose, but the alliance insists its new deterrents in the Baltics and Poland are defensive.
“We do not want a new Cold War or a new arms race,” Lungescu said. “All allies support arms control agreements which build trust and confidence, for everyone’s benefit.”
One particular sore point for Moscow is NATO’s US-built missile defence umbrella across Spain, Poland and Romania, which the alliance says is designed to shoot down Iranian rockets.
Putin, speaking ahead of an election on March 18 that polls indicate he should win easily, said in his speech that new Russian technology would render such defences “ineffective”.
But NATO said it was Russia that has a “continued military build-up from the Barents Sea to the Mediterranean.”
“As we have repeatedly made clear, the alliance’s missile defence is neither designed nor directed against Russia. Our system defends against ballistic missiles from outside the Euro-Atlantic area,” Lungescu said, in reference to the Middle East and further afield.
The NATO-Russia Council, which was briefly broken off in June 2014 after the Crimea crisis, is the forum in which Russian and NATO diplomats seek to air their grievances, although the West and Moscow remain at odds over eastern Ukraine. More than 10,000 people have been killed in separatist fighting that NATO accuses Moscow of directly backing.
The alliance issued a statement earlier today after defence chiefs met in Brussels to discuss their response to last weeks bombing by Russia.
Moscow said it is targeting fighters from ISIS, also known as ISIL, and other extremists but NATO says it is targeting groups such as the Free Syrian Army instead.
And they also called on Russia to explain why some of its fighter jets ended up in Turkish airspace.
A plane entered Turkey’s airspace on Saturday, forcing Turkey to scramble jets, while another one is said by NATO to have gone into the airspace yesterday.
The alliance issued a statement earlier today after defence chiefs met in Brussels to discuss their response to last weeks bombing by Russia.
Moscow said it is targeting fighters from ISIS, also known as ISIL, and other extremists but NATO says it is targeting groups such as the Free Syrian Army instead.
And they also called on Russia to explain why some of its fighter jets ended up in Turkish airspace.
A plane entered Turkey’s airspace on Saturday, forcing Turkey to scramble jets, while another one is said by NATO to have gone into the airspace yesterday.NATO members “strongly protest” and “condemn” incursions into Turkish and Nato territory, the alliance said.
It said: “Allies call on the Russian Federation to immediately cease its attacks on the Syrian opposition and civilians, to focus its efforts on fighting ISIL, and to promote a solution to the conflict through a political transition.
“Allies also note the extreme danger of such irresponsible behaviour. They call on the Russian Federation to cease and desist, and immediately explain these violations.”
Moscow’s unexpected move last week to launch air strikes in Syria has brought the greatest threat of an accidental clash between Russian and Western forces since the Cold War.
Russian war planes and those of the United States and its allies are now flying combat missions over the same country for the first time since the Second World War, with Moscow repeatedly targeting insurgents trained and armed by Washington’s allies.
Turkey, a NATO member with the alliance’s second biggest army, scrambled two F-16 jets on Saturday after a Russian aircraft crossed into its airspace near its southern province of Hatay, the Turkish foreign ministry said.
In a second incident, the Turkish military said a MiG-29 fighter jet – an aircraft used both by Russia and Syria’s own air force – had harassed two of its F-16s by locking its radar on to them on Sunday as they patrolled the border.
