– NATO is stronger, more energetic and more united than ever. This is how US President Joe Biden summed up the NATO summit in Vilnius in his closing speech on Wednesday afternoon. The war in Ukraine clearly received the most attention, but China was also on the agenda. Several leaders from countries in Asia and the Pacific were present in Vilnius. The reactions from both Moscow and Beijing are strong. Announces more aid to Ukraine Ukraine was promised new weapons, financial support and fighter pilot training. Modern combat aircraft have long been at the top of Ukraine’s wish list, in the fight against the Russian forces. NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said on Wednesday that ten countries, including Norway, will start training Ukrainian F-16 pilots after the summer. Only after that will a decision be made whether Ukraine will get fighter jets, according to Stoltenberg. A Belgian F-16 aircraft at Ørland air station during the Arctic Challenge Exercise 2023. Photo: Ole Andreas Vekve / Defense Russia warns against giving Ukraine F-16 The plans that could end up with NATO countries giving Ukraine F-16 fighters arouse strong reactions in Russia Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov says that Russia will consider Western F-16 aircraft sent to Ukraine as a nuclear threat. Because of the aircraft’s capacity to carry nuclear weapons. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov says that Moscow will see it as a nuclear threat if NATO supplies Ukraine with F-16 fighter jets. Photo: Natalia Kolesnikova / AP – Russia cannot ignore the possibility that these planes are nuclear weapons. No insurance will be able to remedy this, says Lavrov, according to the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He believes that it will not be possible for Russia to find out whether each individual aircraft is equipped to be able to carry nuclear weapons or not. – We will regard the fact that the Ukrainian armed forces have such systems as a nuclear threat from the West, says the Russian foreign minister. Researcher: – In short, just hesitation Researcher and former defense chief Sverre Diesen believes that the Russian foreign minister uses strong words to try to scare countries in the west into dropping support for Ukraine. – In short, this is just delay and Lavrov knows it, but it is what the Russians do all the time. It doesn’t matter how stupid what they say is, if they believe that it can make an impression in the West and scare people in a way that makes it politically difficult to support Ukraine, says Diesen to news. Researcher and former chief of defense Sverre Diesen. Photo: Ole Berg-Rusten / NTB He points to three reasons why the F-16 aircraft do not pose a nuclear threat to Russia. – It is not enough to give Ukraine the planes. Then you would have to give them the bombs as well, and of course no one intends to do that, he says to news. He says that Ukraine has long received weapons capable of carrying nuclear weapons. – If Lavrov had been afraid of a weapons platform that could, in theory, deliver a nuclear bomb, then he should have been worried about it for a long time, says Diesen. He believes it is easy to distinguish between F-16 aircraft that can carry nuclear weapons and those that cannot. – It is not just hanging a nuclear bomb under any fighter plane. You need a separate variant with completely separate instruments, he explains. Leaders from Asia and the Pacific attended Also present at the NATO summit in Vilnius were leaders from Australia, New Zealand, South Korea and Japan. It shows that it is not only the Russian warfare in Ukraine that worries NATO member states, writes CNN. Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg at the summit in Vilnius. Photo: KACPER PEMPEL / Reuters China’s foreign policy was also discussed. Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters in Vilnius that NATO does not consider China an adversary, but that China is increasingly challenging the world order with coercive behaviour. – China is increasingly challenging the rules-based international order. They refuse to condemn Russia’s war against Ukraine, threaten Taiwan and carry out a significant military build-up, Stoltenberg said, according to CNN. The statements provoked strong reactions in China. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins and South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol at the summit in Vilnius Photo: ODD ANDERSEN / AFP China warns against NATO expansion China’s delegation to the EU wrote in a statement on Tuesday that the content of the China-related statements ignores basic facts, distorts China’s position, policy and deliberately discredits China, writes Al Jazeera. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has, according to the channel, said that Japan does not plan to join NATO, while South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol has said that he wants stronger security cooperation. China’s delegation to the EU is clear that China will oppose countries in the Asia and the Pacific region seeking membership in NATO. “Any action that endangers China’s legitimate rights and interests will be met with an absolute response,” the statement said. Diesen believes that the reaction from China is predictable. Sverre Diesen was chief of defense between 2005 and 2009. Photo: Svein Olsson / news – This is something China has protested against before and is a rather ritualistic reaction on China’s part, he says. He believes that it is unlikely that NATO will expand in the Pacific region in the near future. – China also knows that there is far too much disagreement about this in NATO, for a formal expansion of NATO to include the Pacific region. It is not on the agenda at all, but it is clear that when NATO signals that China is and can become a challenge, which has also been repeated in NATO’s communication, the Chinese are almost obliged to react, says Diesen.
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Strong reactions from Russia and China after the NATO summit – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
