Mark Rutte meets Vodolymyr Zelensky in Brussels ahead of European Union summit.

During a meeting on Thursday, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte tacitly asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to implement the “energy ceasefire” announced by U.S. President Donald Trump.

RELATED:

Ukraine Resumes Strikes on Russian Refineries: Zelensky

“Good to see President Zelensky in Brussels. We talked about the importance of implementing an energy ceasefire,” Rutte said in a social media message accompanied by a photograph with the Ukrainian leader, who is in the Belgian capital to attend a European Union summit on Friday as a guest.

Rutte also said they discussed “NATO allies’ continued support for Ukraine,” among other things through the Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List (PURL) mechanism, launched by the alliance so that allies can buy U.S. military materiel to send to Kyiv.

Through social media, Zelensky said the meeting with Rutte served to continue coordinating with NATO “greater protection and security for Ukraine.” He took the opportunity to blame Russia for having broken the energy ceasefire through attacks on energy infrastructure.

He also complained about restrictions on Starlink satellite operations in Ukraine, asked that arms supplies to Ukraine continue, and insisted on the need to receive ballistic missile interceptors and ammunition for F16 aircraft.

The Brussels meeting comes a day after Russia launched an attack against three thermal power plants operating in the Kiev region and an attack against energy facilities in Kharkiv.

In statements to the Financial Times, Zelensky reaffirmed his willingness to continue the conflict and announced that “the ban (on attacking Russian refineries) has been lifted. That is enough.”

On Thursday, Russia confirmed that Ukraine attacked a refinery in Ryazan, a region 200 kilometers from Moscow. Yesterday, Russian authorities also denounced Ukrainian attacks on two other refineries in the Saratov and Ryazan regions.

The Kremlin assured that Russia has not violated any agreement given that the energy truce between Russia and Ukraine was never finalized.

teleSUR/ JF

Source: EFE

Le secrétaire général de l’OTAN, Mark Rutte, a exhorté les États membres à attribuer à la Russie la responsabilité de tout incident jugé suspect, même en l’absence de preuves irréfutables. Il a par ailleurs salué une récente accusation portée par l’Estonie à l’encontre de son voisin oriental et a invité les autres nations à suivre cet exemple.

Paolo Hamidouche

Le secrétaire général de l’OTAN, Mark Rutte, a exhorté les États membres à attribuer à la Russie la responsabilité de tout incident jugé suspect, même en l’absence de preuves irréfutables. Il a également salué une récente accusation portée par l’Estonie contre son voisin oriental et a invité les autres nations à suivre cet exemple.

Lors d’une conférence de presse conjointe tenue il y’a une semaine avec le Premier ministre lituanien Mindaugas Sinkevicius, M. Rutte a encouragé l’imputation publique de responsabilités concernant ce qu’il a qualifié d’« activités malveillantes dans la zone grise », généralement attribuées à la Russie par les membres de l’OTAN.

« Vous avez entendu hier le Commandant suprême allié dire : « Hé, quand vous le pouvez, quand vous êtes sûrs qu’il s’agit des Russes, ou presque sûrs que ce sont les Russes, attribuez-le aux Russes » – exactement comme l’a fait l’Estonie aujourd’hui. J’apprécie cela », a déclaré M. Rutte.

Lundi passé, le commandant suprême allié de l’OTAN en Europe, Alexus Grynkewich, a décrit l’attribution publique de ce type d’incidents à la Russie comme un « moyen de dissuasion » face à la « menace russe » présumée, lors d’une intervention devant une commission du Parlement européen. M. Rutte est connu pour sa position fermement anti-russe ainsi que pour son soutien ardent à Kiev dans le conflit qui l’oppose à Moscou. La semaine dernière, lors d’un événement organisé par le Chicago Council on Global Affairs dans l’Iowa, il a proposé d’aider à « protéger les États-Unis contre les menaces de la Russie ». Durant la conférence de presse conjointe avec M. Sinkevicius, il a par ailleurs soutenu que l’Alliance devait faire « encore plus pour l’Ukraine, et non moins ».

« Et je suis tout à fait d’accord. Quant à votre deuxième question, non, je ne dis pas que ces activités malveillantes dans la « zone grise » sont sans impact. Elles peuvent avoir un impact, et c’est parfois le cas, manifestement. Ce que je dis, c’est que nous disposons de toutes les options de réponse, parfois visibles, parfois non – pas toujours publiques, ni systématiquement fondées sur le principe du « œil pour œil ». Hier, vous avez entendu le Commandant suprême allié dire : « Hé, lorsque c’est possible, lorsque vous êtes sûrs qu’il s’agit des Russes, ou presque sûrs que ce sont eux, attribuez-leur la responsabilité » – exactement comme l’a fait l’Estonie aujourd’hui. Je m’en réjouis. Et partagez également toutes les informations dont vous disposez, en tant qu’Alliés, avec l’OTAN, le SHAPE et l’équipe du Commandant suprême allié, afin d’avoir une vue d’ensemble de la situation. Les options de réponse existent donc. Nous faisons ce qui est nécessaire, et les Alliés peuvent réellement apporter leur aide en attribuant la responsabilité, mais aussi en veillant à ce que nous ayons une vision globale de la situation. C’est exactement ce que nous faisons, dans un esprit de calme et de détermination. Nous sommes plus forts, et ils le savent. »

Et pendant ce temps, avec un « presque certain » de la part de Rutte, nous pourrions bientôt nous retrouver en guerre contre une puissance nucléaire…

Publié à l’origine par Divergence politique

Kaliningrad, the militarized Russian exclave wedged between NATO and EU members Poland and Lithuania and a constant flashpoint between the Kremlin and the Atlantic Alliance, has become the center of Vladimir Putin’s nuclear threat against Europeans. Last week Moscow accused NATO of seeking to block Kaliningrad and threatened to use nuclear weapons if the military organization moves forward with that alleged plan. For the Kremlin, the exclave, which gives it a strategic outlet to the Baltic Sea (it is the only port it can use year-round) and is a key node in its hybrid war against Europe, is an advanced bastion. For NATO, it is a piece on the board that shapes any crisis in the Baltic because it could hinder allied military movements.

Seguir leyendo

Russia is stepping up its hybrid war against Europe. From sabotage, drone incursions, and arson to plots (mostly foiled) to assassinate pro‑Ukraine activists and Russian dissidents on European soil, the Kremlin is testing the allied response, and incidents against NATO’s European partners are becoming more serious, such as the explosive‑laden drones found this summer at Leipzig Airport in Germany. That gray line between a hybrid attack and a conventional one is blurring, and several European intelligence sources warn of the risk that one of those incidents could escalate — either by a deliberate Kremlin decision or a miscalculation.

Seguir leyendo

More rearmament talks are underway in Brussels as European politicians continue building an increasingly tense anti-Russian discourse. On Wednesday, September 30, defense ministers and industry representatives joined the Euronews Defense and Space Summit, focusing on the bloc’s growing defense expenditure and member cooperation.

The summit took place after weeks of allegations of hybrid attacks on EU members, which pushed the already tense rearmament narrative permeating the European political establishment up a couple more notches. It also followed, by only a couple of days, the Council of the EU’s announcement of the next phase of five European Defense Projects of Common Interest (EDPCIs) – projects that “allow EU countries to work together on major defense initiatives that are too large or too complex for individual countries to develop on their own.”

Read more: “Militarization of rules and minds” in Europe threatens workers and welfare

While separate, the two events shared several points in common, starting with a focus on increasing coordination between EU countries to arm more efficiently – and spend the billions of euros planned for defense over the coming years. They also emphasized sections of the military sector to receive the most attention – including drones and military capacities in Eastern Europe. 

This geographical focus goes beyond EU members, expanding to – at least – Ukraine and Moldova. Most EDPCIs – like the Drone and Counter-Drone European Resolve (DECODER) and the Eastern Flank Watch – list Ukraine as a partner. Ukrainian arms entrepreneurs were also present at the summit in Brussels, including leading figures from Fire Point, one of the country’s most prominent arms companies.

Very imminent investments into arms

While NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte stated in his summit intervention that there is “no imminent danger” to the alliance members’ territories, he and others did not hold back in offering anticipations of an unstable period.

Belgian Minister of Defense Theo Francken, for one, anticipated “more hybrid threat actions” and an overall “dark winter for Europe” – a scenario he seems to want to address by spending more on arms and cutting social services, as he has explicitly stated on numerous occasions.

“Europe has been very good in investing in soft power, in social security,” Francken said. “And it’s beautiful to have a pension system, to have social welfare systems when someone gets sick, when somebody loses his job – we have everything. But when there’s a war or there’s hybrid threats, we don’t have anything.”

Considering the significant amount of money European countries have already invested into armament, his assessment that “we don’t have anything” is inaccurate at best. 

It also remains contested on a regular basis on the streets of many European cities, where trade unions, students, and peace movements continue to protest against austerity budgets that aim to provide for war.

Europe needs a policy that builds security with its neighbors

In addition to large-scale demonstrations against social security and labor cuts in France’s proposed 2027 budget and student strikes against conscription in Germany last week, mobilizations are expected to grow over the coming months – including an international youth strike in November.

“We reject the militarization of our societies and support the young people who are refusing it,” the Stop ReArm Europe coalition wrote on September 23. “Thousands of high school students and university students across Europe are rising up to refuse militarization and the return of conscription.”

Read more: German students say ‘we don’t want to go to war’

“Nearly 20 million children in the EU – one in four – live at risk of poverty or social exclusion,” the group added. “Meanwhile, governments have committed to military spending that the EU’s own Defense Commissioner, Andrius Kubilius, puts at €7 trillion by 2035.”

“The trillions earmarked for militarized security will leave us staring down the barrel of a gun and indebted to global financiers,” Stop ReArm wrote, calling for a solidarity- and care-based alternative. “This must go hand in hand with a non-aligned foreign policy that resolves conflicts through diplomacy, upholds international law and human rights, and builds common security for all: security with our neighbors, not against them.”