WASHINGTON / Kiev: NATO is drawing up plans to ensure its members can respond more quickly to crises in the aftermath of Russia’s “aggression” in Ukraine, the alliance’s chief said Monday. Ukraine’s defense minister says the government will only restart cease-fire negotiations with pro-Russian insurgents in the country’s east once the rebels lay down their weapons, reports AP/AFP.Valery Heletey’s statement, posted online Tuesday, comes amid growing confidence among government forces after they drove the insurgent militia from their stronghold of Slovyansk.
Last week, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko promised cease-fire talks no later than that Saturday, but a series of military successes by the Ukrainian army may have changed minds in Kiev. Instead, on Saturday, Ukrainian troops routed the rebels in Slovyansk, forcing hundreds of insurgents to regroup in the regional capital, Donetsk.
A 10-day cease-fire that ended in late June was punctuated by frequent clashes and provided no progress in reaching a negotiated settlement.
Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the transatlantic alliance would review a proposed readiness “action plan” at an upcoming summit in September in Britain and also predicted European members were poised to reverse a long decline in military spending dating back to the Cold War.
“Obviously Russia’s aggression against Ukraine will put a lot of emphasis on the need for a strong, collective defense,” Rasmussen said during a visit to the US capital.
“That’s why at the summit I hope we will adopt a readiness action plan which will improve our ability to respond swiftly,” he told an audience at a Washington think tank, the Atlantic Council.
“We are looking closely at how we deploy our forces for defense and deterrence. What combination of forces we need. Where they should be deployed. And their readiness,” he said.
