#14 - RW 11-5-04 - RW Home
Interfax
November 4, 2004
James Appathurai: NATO will not deploy military bases or nuclear weapons in Baltic states
NATO Spokesman James Appathurai comments on the deployment of NATO air policing infrastructure in the Baltic countries

According to Interfax, NATO is about to deploy additional military material in Siauliae (Lithuania). Can you confirm this information? If so, concretely what will be deployed?

NATO is not planning to deploy large amounts of "military material" to Siaulai, Lithuania, or to the territory of any of its other new member states. What may have caused some confusion in Russia are steps that have been taken in connection with the Alliance's "air policing" mission. The Alliance's airspace is policed according to uniform standards and Allies provide assistance those NATO member states who do not possess the required capabilities such as supersonic aircraft.

What additional military bases is NATO planning to set up in the Baltic countries?

This is another common misperception - NATO simply is not "setting up military bases" in the Baltic countries. What the Alliance is doing is helping to ensure that these NATO member states meet NATO interoperability standards. This also includes measures to facilitate NATO "air policing" operations in these countries. Unfortunately, there has been a great deal of misunderstanding in Russia with regard to these operations.

Air policing is a routine peacetime activity, designed to ensure the security and orderly use of military and commercial airspace. It is conducted by most countries in Europe, including Russia. Within NATO, the Alliance assumes responsibility for patrolling the airspace of those Allies who do not possess their own air forces. Since the recent accession to the Alliance of seven new member states, the number of such countries has grown to include Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Slovenia. The geography of Slovenia permits patrols to be conducted from bases in Hungary and Italy. In the case of the three Baltic states, however, it has required the location of a limited number of fighter aircraft (four, in total), together with pilots and ground crew, to Siaulai airfield in Lithuania. This, in turn, has required some work at Siaulai and at two "reserve" airfields in Amari, Estonia and Lielvarde, Latvia (where aircraft involved in this operation might need to land in case of emergency) - restoration of runway pavements and aircraft maintenance facilities, installation of jet fuel storage and dispensing facilities, and other routine upgrades - designed to ensure that these facilities can operate in accordance with minimum NATO interoperability standards. As far as the actual aircraft and personnel involved in this mission, Allies have taken it on in three-month rotations, beginning with Belgium and Denmark.

What kind of agreement does NATO have with Russia in this regard?

Obviously, these are sovereign countries, free to undertake infrastructure repairs on their own territory, and to coordinate their defence arrangements with their Allies in NATO. But we have been completely transparent with our Russian partners. The Secretary General briefed Foreign Minister Lavrov on the start of the air policing mission before it began last March. More recently, he wrote to him with a detailed summary of the infrastructure work underway. We have encouraged Russia to make maximum use of the confidence-and security-building measures of the Vienna Document in order to visit these sites and observe the situation on the ground with their own eyes.

Moreover, because the limited number of aircraft involved in this operation are deployed temporarily to Lithuania, they remain fully accountable under the terms of the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) at their permanent bases. The provisions of the NATO-Russia Founding Act - whereby NATO reiterated that in the current and foreseeable security environment, the Alliance would carry out its missions by ensuring the necessary interoperability, integration and capability for reinforcement rather than by additional permanent stationing of substantial combat forces - also continue to apply.

At the same time, our cooperation in the framework of the NATO-Russia Council (NRC) has developed further still. In the framework of the NRC Cooperative Airspace Initiative, we are working to enhance transparency and cooperation in airspace management, by promoting technical interoperability and the ability to share civil and military air pictures across borders on a reciprocal basis. We fully expect that this effort will improve our ability to work together against shared threats to our airspace.

Can NATO deploy nuclear weapons in the Baltic countries?

In the 1997 NATO-Russia Founding Act on Mutual Relations, Cooperation and Security, the member States of NATO reiterated that they had "no intention, no plan and no reason to deploy nuclear weapons on the territory of new members". They also reaffirmed that NATO had "no intention, no plan, and no reason to establish nuclear weapon storage sites on the territory of those members, whether through the construction of new nuclear storage facilities or the adaptation of old nuclear storage facilities". This is perfectly clear. More recently, the Alliance has proposed to Russia the adoption of additional confidence- and security-building measures in the nuclear area, which could increase mutual trust and confidence even more.