NATO suspends cooperation with Russia

NATO will suspend “all practical
civilian and military cooperation” with Russia because of its
annexation of Crimea, saying it has seen no sign that Moscow was
withdrawing troops from the Ukrainian border.
Foreign ministers from the 28 members of the Western military
alliance met in Brussels on Tuesday for the first time since Russia
grabbed the Black Sea peninsula from Ukraine last month, triggering
the worst East-West crisis since the Cold War.
They were discussing ways to boost NATO’s military presence in
formerly communist central and Eastern Europe to reassure allies
worried by Russia’s moves.
After the session, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Russia
has challenged truths that only a few weeks ago seemed self-evident:
that European borders in the 21st century would not be redrawn by
force.
“It is important for everybody in the world to
understand that the NATO alliance takes seriously this
attempt to change borders by use of force,” he said. “So
that is the wake-up call.”
Russia’s aggression “is the gravest threat to European
security in a generation and it challenges our vision of a
Europe whole, free and at peace,” NATO Secretary
General Anders Fogh Rasmussen told reporters.
In a joint statement announcing the suspension of
cooperation, the ministers said political dialogue in the
NATO-Russia Council could continue, “as necessary,
at the ambassadorial level and above, to allow us to
exchange views, first and foremost on this crisis.”
They said they would review NATO’s relations with
Russia at their next meeting in June. NATO and
Russia have cooperated on an anti-narcotics operation
in Afghanistan, counterpiracy and various
counterterrorism measures. Rasmussen said cooperation
on the anti-narcotics operations would continue.
A NATO official told CNN the ministers had decided
the alliance would develop, as a matter of urgency, “a
series of additional measures to reinforce NATO’s
collective defenses.”
These would include possible deployments and
reinforcements of alliance military assets in Eastern
European member states, a possible review of training
and exercise plans in the near term, a possible increase
of the readiness level of the NATO Response Force,
and a possible review and update of NATO defense and
military plans, the official said.

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