While most NATO countries support the alliance’s new regional defence plans, there are oppositional voices. However, objections from some allies “are not military in nature”, says Lithuania’s Arvydas Anušauskas, who is attending a meeting of NATO defence ministers on Friday.
“National disagreements that have arisen are still being reconciled. I will not elaborate on them, but I can only say that 90 percent of the countries do not have any objections anymore and they would like to have those regional plans approved before the Vilnius summit,” the Lithuanian minister of defence told reporters in Brussels.
NATO’s new regional defence plans were drawn up after Moscow launched its invasion of Ukraine. The plans reflect the “changed reality” resulting from the war in Ukraine and will clearly detail the defence of specific territories and which military units will defend them, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said.
Officials have previously said that the defence plans will be approved before the NATO summit in Vilnius in July.
“Countries that raise objections, which I would like to stress are not military in nature, will undoubtedly come under pressure to either withdraw those objections or find a compromise,” Anušauskas said on Friday.
In 2019, Turkey blocked the then new Baltic defence plans and demanded that the alliance take more account of Ankara’s own security interests, show more political support for Turkey’s fight against the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) in northern Syria, and declare the organisation a terrorist one.
Anušauskas refused to specify whether the defence plans are being blocked by Turkey.
“I do not elaborate, I do not confirm. This is a matter of our meetings and conversations. I will just say that the absolute majority, 90 percent, of the documents that were considered in the North Atlantic Council have been approved. There is one regional defence plan that has not yet been approved, but I think there is a possibility to have it in place by the time of the Vilnius summit,” Anušauskas said. He also did not elaborate on which region’s defence plan is not approved.
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