A year old “news”
“NATO Secretary General J. Stoltenberg stated that Brussels plans to review the mandate of the North Atlantic Alliance’s mission to protect the airspace of the Baltic countries and change it from a protection mission to a combat one. Mr. Stoltenberg said this in Vilnius,” the Russian news portal claims gazeta.ru in a distributed publication.
Similar statements are made by the state news agency TASS.
“We will strengthen the land, sea and air forces. The powers granted to the air forces of the member countries will be reviewed and changed from the status of air police to combat”, – the statement allegedly published by J. Stoltenberg in the June 26 publication quoted by TASS.
Screenshots of these publications are being actively shared by pro-Russian bloggers on Telegram channels, thus seeking to prove NATO’s predatory intentions towards Russia.
How strange that the words of Mr. Stoltenberg’s statement were remembered more than a year after they were uttered in a joint meeting between Mr. Stoltenberg, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius and Lithuanian leader Gitan Nausėda at the press conferenceheld last June.
The exact quote by J. Stoltenberg was as follows:
“We are currently implementing new regional plans that allocate specific forces and capabilities to the defense of specific allies. These forces will conduct regular joint exercises.
We also agreed on a new air and missile defense rotation model. In order to be able to quickly transition from air air policing to air defense (eng. To allow for swift transition from air policing to air defence).
The accession of Finland and Sweden to NATO will further strengthen the security of the Baltic countries”, said the former head of NATO.
Photo by Alvydas Januševičius/International military exercise “The legacy of Tobruk”
Will defend against Russia
Although there were no talks about plans to attack Russia from the airspace of the Baltic countries, during the summit meeting in Vilnius it was discussed how to defend against the aggressors who are currently attacking Ukraine.
On the eve of the meeting, NATO approved new defense plans, which define in much more detail how the Baltic countries would be defended in the event of a Russian attack.
Read more: Biggest change since the Cold War: NATO approves new defense plans against Russia
This is the most detailed plan since the end of the Cold War for how the Western military alliance would fight against the aggressor Russia.
In the past, the concept was that if the Russians attacked, the Baltic countries should try to hold off the attack until the Allies could come to help.
The alliance now wants to be ready to strike back immediately, which means more forces along Russia’s border and much more detailed commitments to quickly redeploy forces from specific units.
Airspace is protected from joining NATO
NATO Air Police Mission in the Baltic States began to be implemented in March 2004when Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia became NATO members.
Since the Baltic countries do not have the capabilities (fighters), this mission is carried out with the joint capabilities of NATO.
Since then, soldiers from Belgium, Denmark, the Czech Republic, Great Britain, Spain, the USA, Poland, Norway, the Netherlands, Portugal, France, Romania, Turkey, Germany, and Italy have already patrolled the Baltic airspace.
The fighter jets protecting the airspace of the Baltic States are ready to take off in a short time and act against the disciplinary or other violators of the airspace of the Baltic States.
Since 2014 An additional contingent is deployed at the Amari Air Base (Estonia) as a reinforcement to the main contingent or contingents carrying out the NATO air police mission in the Baltic States.
Teodoros Biliūnas/BNS photo/Short-range air defense system NASAMS
15min verdict: lie. J. Stoltenberg’s quote was translated incorrectly, its essence was distorted
The publication was prepared in 15 minutes in partnership with Metawhich aims to stop the spread of misleading news on the social network. More about the program and its rules – here.
Source: www.15min.lt
