NATO’s new strategic concept

To NATO, Russia is no longer a partner, but the most significant and direct threat

Bogdan Matei, 30.06.2022, 14:00

The NATO Summit in Madrid is
one of the most important meetings in recent years in terms of the results for
Romania, president Klaus Iohannis said at the end of the first day of the
summit. The president added that discussions and decisions focused on Russia’s
military invasion of neighboring Ukraine, and that the new strategic concept of
NATO, adopted on the sidelines of the summit, truly reflects the security
developments. Therefore, Russia is no longer considered a partner, but rather
the most significant and direct threat to allied security and stability. For
the first time, communist China was accused of using a wide array of political,
economic and military actions in order to expand its influence across the
globe. China’s ambitions and its coercive policies represent a challenge to
NATO’s interests, security and values, NATO leaders say, condemning the
strategic partnership between Beijing and Moscow which, they say, goes against
the international order.

NATO also confirmed the consolidation of its military
presence on the eastern flank, including in Romania. NATO’s rapid response
force will go up from 40,000 to over 300,000 military. This is the biggest
overhaul of our collective defense since the end of the Cold War that will be
agreed at this Summit, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said. In turn,
US president Joe Biden said we are stepping up, proving that NATO is more
needed now than it ever has been. President Biden also announced an increase
in the USA’s military presence across Europe. NATO promised it would support
Ukraine for as long as it’s necessary, helping this country fend off the
Russian invasion. Secretary Stoltenberg said support to Kyiv is a moral and
political obligation. In a joint statement, NATO members that have already
supplied weapons to Ukraine have agreed on a new type of assistance, consisting
of delivering non-lethal military equipment and strengthening Ukrainian
defense against cyber-attacks.

Russia’s appalling cruelty has caused immense
human suffering and massive displacements, a declaration from the summit in
Madrid reads, blaming Moscow for this humanitarian catastrophe. Ukraine’s
Foreign Minister, Dmytro Kuleba, hailed what he described as a strong and
lucid position of NATO towards Russia. Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin paid
his first visit to Central Asia since the start of the conflict, and denounced
the so-called imperial ambitions of NATO, which seeks to assert its
hegemony by means of the war in Ukraine. Putin also claims Russia has no
problem with the impending NATO accession of Sweden and Finland which, after
decades of neutrality, decided to join the Alliance in the wake of the Russian
invasion of Ukraine. (VP)