NATO to deploy AWACS to monitor Ukraine border

By Ian Davis, NATO Watch

On Monday NATO said it would deploy Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) reconnaissance aircraft to overfly Poland and Romania to monitor the Ukrainian crisis.

“All AWACS reconnaissance flights will take place solely over alliance territory,” the unnamed official said. “This decision is an appropriate and responsible action in line with NATO’s decision to intensify our ongoing assessment of the implications of this crisis for Alliance security,” the official added.
 
The AWACS will fly missions from their home base in Geilenkirchen, Germany and from Waddington in Britain.
 
Ukraine is not a member of NATO, but Russia's military occupation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula has worried some East European countries, both inside the Alliance (such as Poland and the Baltic states) and outside it (such as Moldova). Moldova's prime minister expressed alarm on Monday saying that the crisis was "contagious" and could stoke separatist sentiment in his country's rebel Russian-speaking territory of Transdniestria. "The tense situation in Crimea is a threat to the security of the whole region. The evolution of the situation will create new problems and threats, both direct and indirect for Moldova," Prime Minister Iurie Leanca told journalists after returning from a trip to Washington.
 
Tensions between NATO and Russia have risen to one of their highest points since the end of the Cold War. US and European officials have warned that Russia could be sanctioned if it does not withdraw from Ukraine. Moscow has responded by suggesting it could halt onsite inspections under the New START arms control accord with the United States. The situation risks becoming even more difficult if Crimea votes in a March 16 referendum to break all links with Kiev and become part of Russia.
 
Also on Monday, the Pentagon said it was critical for Washington to reassure its European allies of its commitment to their security. "This is an important time for us to make crystal clear to all our allies and partners in the region that the United States of America stands by them," Defense Department spokesman Army Col. Steve Warren said in a Pentagon press story.
 
To reassure Poland, the United States has agreed to send extra F-16 jets to the country. The additional planes would come from US European Command. The final number of planes has not yet been determined, according to Warren. Earlier reports suggested however that the US would be sending a dozen F-16 fighter jets and 300 service personnel to Poland as part of a training exercise and that six additional F-15 fighter jets would be deployed to enhance NATO air patrols over the Baltic states. Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite said at the time of last week's deployment that it was a sign that "NATO is responding promptly and fast".
 
As a further sign of its resolve, on Tuesday the United States began joint military training exercises in the Black Sea with Romanian and Bulgarian warships. The US warship taking part is the USS Truxtun - a guided-missile destroyer, which is part of the US Sixth Fleet headquartered in Italy. It will be joined by the Bulgarian naval frigate Drazki and three Romanian naval vessels. "The goal of the exercise is to increase the operational compatibility within NATO members' navy vessels, to improve the mutual understanding and to increase the crews' preparedness at sea," the Bulgarian defence ministry said.
 
NATO foreign ministers will meet in Brussels on April 1-2, where it is likely that a full re-assessment of the Alliance's relations with Russia will be carried out, as previously announced by NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen on 5 March. NATO has already frozen practical military cooperation with Russia and suspended the holding of all kinds of meetings at technical level with Moscow, except sessions of the NATO-Russia Council at ambassador level.