Nato Alliance

Trump casts doubt on Nato solidarity, despite it aiding US after Sept 11

President Donald Trump on Thursday expressed uncertainty that NATO would come to the US's defence if the country were attacked, though the alliance did just that after September 11 the only time in its history that the defence guarantee has been invoked. Trump also suggested that the US might abandon its commitments to the alliance if member countries don't meet defence spending targets, a day after his pick for NATO ambassador assured senators that the administration's commitment to the military alliance was ironclad. Trump's comments denigrating NATO, which was formed to counter Soviet aggression during the Cold War, are largely in line with his yearslong criticism of the alliance, which he has accused of not paying its fair share toward the cost of defence. But they come at a time of heightened concern in the Western world over Trump's cozy relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has long seen NATO as a threat, and as the US president seeks to pressure Ukraine in

Nato must decline membership promise to Ukraine: Russia's foreign ministry

Zakharova said that Ukraine needed to return to the position of its 1990 declaration of sovereignty from the Soviet Union, in which Kyiv said that it would become a permanently neutral state

US, including Biden's admin, never saw Ukraine as Nato member: Zelenskyy

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says the United States, including the Biden administration, never saw Ukraine as a NATO member. Zelenskyy spoke Friday to the Munich Security Conference. He is expected to meet with US Vice President JD Vance later. Many observers, particularly in Europe, hope Vance will shed at least some light on US President Donald Trump's ideas for a negotiated settlement to the war following a phone call between Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin this week.

Nato allies insist Ukraine and Europe must not be cut out of peace talks

Several NATO allies stressed on Thursday that Ukraine and Europe must not be cut out of any peace negotiations, after US President Donald Trump signalled that he would hold talks soon with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Let's not forget, Russia remains a threat well beyond Ukraine, UK Defence Secretary John Healey after the United States rattled NATO by saying that Ukraine should never join the alliance and that European allies should take responsibility for Ukraine's security going forward. There can be no negotiation about Ukraine without Ukraine. And Ukraine's voice must be at the heart of any talks, Healey told reporters at NATO headquarters, as the organization's 32 defense ministers met for talks on Ukraine. Swedish Defence Minister Pal Jonson said European nations provided about 60% of the military support to Ukraine last year and must be involved, especially given US. demands that Europe take more responsibility for Ukraine's security in the longer term. It's very natura

US defence secy Hegseth rejects troops support, Nato membership for Ukraine

The comments amounted to a major reorientation of US policy as President Donald Trump looks for ways to bring the war in Ukraine to an end

Nato's Dragone meets Zelenskyy, discusses military aid, long-range drones

Zelenskyy also expressed gratitude for Dragone's first foreign visit to Ukraine

Nato is deploying eyes in sky and on Baltic Sea to protect vital cables

With its powerful camera, the French Navy surveillance plane scouring the Baltic Sea zoomed in on a cargo ship ploughing the waters below closer, closer and closer still until the camera operator could make out details on the vessel's front deck and smoke pouring from its chimney. The long-range Atlantique 2 aircraft on a new mission for NATO then shifted its high-tech gaze onto another target, and another after that until, after more than five hours on patrol, the plane's array of sensors had scoped out the bulk of the Baltic from Germany in the west to Estonia in the northeast, bordering Russia. The flight's mere presence in the skies above the strategic sea last week, combined with military ships patrolling on the waters, also sent an unmistakable message: The NATO alliance is ratcheting up its guard against suspected attempts to sabotage underwater energy and data cables and pipelines that crisscross the Baltic, prompted by a growing catalogue of incidents that have damaged ...

Not sure if US should be spending anything on Nato, says Donald Trump

Washington finances 15.8 per cent of the 32-member military alliance's yearly expenditure of around $3.5 billion, joint-largest share, alongside Germany

Nato launches new Baltic sentry mission to protect undersea cables

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte announced on Tuesday that the alliance is launching a new mission to protect undersea cables in the Baltic Sea region. Rutte said at a meeting in Helsinki with the leaders of NATO countries located on the Baltic Sea that the effort would be dubbed Baltic Sentry. It will involve a range of assets, including frigates and maritime patrol aircraft, among others, and will enhance our vigilance in the Baltic, Rutte told reporters. He also said that a small fleet of naval drones will be deployed to provide enhanced surveillance and deterrence. The meeting comes as a string of incidents in the Baltic has heightened concerns about possible Russian activities in the region.

Biden says he's leaving Trump with 'strong hand to play' in world conflicts

President Joe Biden said on Monday that his stewardship of American foreign policy has left the US safer and economically more secure, arguing that President-elect Donald Trump will inherit a nation viewed as stronger and more reliable than it was four years ago. Biden trumpeted his administration's work on expanding NATO, rallying allies to provide Ukraine with military aid to fight Russia and bolstering American chip manufacturing to better compete with China during a wide-ranging speech to reflect on his foreign policy legacy a week before ceding the White House to Trump. Biden's case for his achievements will be shadowed and shaped, at least in the near term, by the messy counterfactual that American voters once again turned to Trump and his protectionist worldview. And he will leave office at a turbulent moment for the globe, with a series of conflicts raging. "Thanks to our administration, the US is winning the worldwide competition compared to four years ago," Biden said in h

US lawmaker reintroduces bill to end Pakistan's major non-Nato ally status

Initially introduced by Biggs in January 2019, the bill has been reintroduced in every subsequent Congress but has not advanced legislatively in any attempt

Trump's Nato push: Higher defence spending, continued aid to Ukraine

Trump plans to push Nato allies to increase defence spending to 5% of GDP while continuing aid to Ukraine, marking a significant shift in his foreign policy approach

Want Ukraine in stronger position for peace talks with Russia: Nato leader

NATO's secretary-general said he wants to discuss ways to put Ukraine in a position of strength for any future peace talks with Russia during a meeting on Wednesday with Ukraine's president and a small number of European leaders. But Mark Rutte appeared frustrated at growing speculation in NATO capitals about when those peace talks might start and whether European peacekeepers would be involved, saying that speaking publicly about it plays into the hands of Russian President Vladimir Putin. "High on the agenda is to make sure that the president, his team in Ukraine, are in the best possible position one day when they decide so to start the peace talks," Rutte told reporters as he welcomed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to his residence in Brussels. The focus, Rutte said, must be "to do everything now to make sure that when it comes to air defence, when it comes to other weapons systems, that we make sure that we provide whatever we can". He said that another issue up for .

Trump calls for urgent ceasefire in Ukraine, says US' exiting Nato possible

Donald Trump on Sunday pushed Russian leader Vladimir Putin to act to reach an immediate cease-fire with Ukraine, describing it as part of his active efforts as president-elect to end the war despite being weeks from taking office. Zelensky and Ukraine would like to make a deal," Trump wrote on social media, referring to Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy. In a television interview that aired Sunday, Trump also said he would be open to reducing military aid to Ukraine and pulling the United States out of NATO. Those are two threats that have alarmed Ukraine, NATO allies and many in the US national security community. Asked on NBC's Meet the Press if he were actively working to end the nearly 3-year-old Ukraine war, Trump said, I am. He refused to say if he had spoken to Putin since winning the election in November. I don't want to say anything about that, because I don't want to do anything that could impede the negotiation, Trump said. Trump's call for an immediate cease-fi

Open to ceasefire if Nato protects unoccupied areas, says Zelenskyy

Zelenskyy made the comments in an interview with Sky News broadcast Friday when asked about a scenario in which Nato security guarantees covered only territory controlled by Kyiv

Cyprus may become Nato member when conditions permit, says country's Prez

Cyprus could apply to become a member of NATO once its armed forces receive the necessary training and equipment with US help to bring them up to the standards of the world's premier military alliance, the president of the Mediterranean island nation said Thursday. President Nikos Christodoulides put Cyprus on a trajectory for possible NATO membership, ending weeks of media speculation about his government's intentions following his meeting with President Joe Biden in Washington last month. The development goes against Cyprus' long-held policy of neutrality harking back to the Cold War era, when it walked a political tightrope between Washington and Moscow. Christodoulides said that although Cyprus cannot join NATO at this time because of objections that alliance member Turkey would raise to its potential membership, the Cypriot National Guard shouldn't be denied the opportunity to upgrade its defensive capabilities with US assistance. Turkey, which maintains more than 35,000 troop

Nato, Ukraine to hold talks after Russia's attack with hypersonic missile

NATO and Ukraine will hold emergency talks Tuesday after Russia attacked a central city with an experimental, hypersonic ballistic missile that escalated the nearly 33-month-old war. The conflict is entering a decisive phase, Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Friday, and taking on very dramatic dimensions. Ukraine's parliament canceled a session as security was tightened following Thursday's Russian strike on a military facility in the city of Dnipro. In a stark warning to the West, President Vladimir Putin said in a nationally televised speech that the attack with the intermediate-range Oreshnik missile was in retaliation for Kyiv's use of US and British longer-range missiles capable of striking deeper into Russian territory. Putin said Western air defence systems would be powerless to stop the new missile. Ukrainian military officials said the missile that hit Dnipro had reached a speed of Mach 11 and carried six nonnuclear warheads each releasing six submunitions. Speak

How to trade Brent crude oil today; Mohammed Imran of Sharekhan decodes

As North Korea may deploy as many as 100,000 troops to aid Russia's war on Ukraine, increasing the likelihood of North Korea becoming more directly involved in the conflict

Biden expanded India-US relation, strengthened Nato: Lloyd Austin

The Biden Administration in the last four years has expanded America's relationship with India, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said. "We strengthened NATO. We've pulled NATO together. We've kept 50 countries focused on providing security assistance to Ukraine. The things that we've done in the Indo-Pacific. Quite amazing," Austin told reporters in Florida. "We walked in the door, and we were about to get kicked out of the Philippines. We are 180 degrees out from that now. We have a great relationship with the Philippines, and we continue to work together in the ways that we should be working together. You look at AUKUS, which is a generational capability that is really going to make a significant difference going forward, he said. Austin said that America's relationship with India has improved under the Biden administration. "We walked in the door and Japan has doubled its investment in defense and the list goes on and on and on. So, despite supporting and managing security ...

US, Nato slam deployment of N Korean troops to Russia amid Ukraine war

This development comes after a significant incursion by the Ukrainian military in the Kursk area in August