NATO Goes Ahead with "Immediate Establishment" of Six Command and Control units in Bulgaria, Five Other Eastern European Countries

Brussels, February 5 (BTA correspondent Nikolay Jeliazkov) -
NATO Defence Ministers decided to immediately establish six
command and control units in Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia,
Lithuania, Poland and Romania. "If a crisis arises, they will
ensure that national and NATO forces from across the Alliance
are able to act as one from the start. They will make rapid
deployment easier, support planning for collective defence, and
help coordinate training and exercises," NATO Secretary
General Jens Stoltenberg said at a news conference after the end
of a one-day meeting of the Defence Ministers of NATO member
states.

NATO endorsed the establishment of a rapid reaction land brigade
with a staff of 5,000, ready to deploy within 48 hours. Another
30,000 military will ensure additional special forces able to
intervene within a week after a need do so arises - issuing a
threat against a NATO member state or an attack on its
territory. The special forces will be able to act on land, air
and water.

The way the command and control units and the special forces
will be financed will be clarified in June. The money is
expected to be simultaneously provided by the separate member
states and the budget of the Alliance. The common goal is the
establishment of possibilities to react in the case of a crisis,
no matter the direction it comes from.

Speaking to Bulgarian journalists in Brussels, Defence Minister
Nikolay Nenchev said NATO's future command and control centre in
Sofia can be set up without legislative amendments or
Parliament's sanction. Asked if Parliament must pronounce on
this matter, Nenchev said it was not necessary because it was
not required either by any law or by the Constitution.

Nenchev said that a Constitutional Court ruling gave grounds to
assume that being a NATO Member State, Bulgaria has the right to
participate in joint activities and exercises with the other
NATO countries in its own territory. "In this volatile
environment Bulgaria, which is located at a crossroads and could
face obvious problems of all kinds, needs to safeguard its
security," said Nenchev. There is no aggressive attitude to any
country, he said.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said before the meeting
that "this is a very critical time for security in Europe, and
across the world".

He said: "In Ukraine, violence is getting worse and the crisis
is deepening. Russia continues to disregard international rules
and to support the separatists with advanced weapons, training
and forces. In North Africa and the Middle East, violent
extremism is spreading. And this turmoil fuels terrorism in our
own countries. So we are adapting our posture and our forces to
this changing security environment. To conduct NATO's full range
of missions. And to deal with challenges from any direction."

Stoltenberg said the command and control units in Bulgaria,
Romania, Poland, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia would make it
easier to deploy NATO forces rapidly. "They will be key for
connecting national forces with NATO reinforcements. We are also
working on enhancing the multinational command northeast in
Szczecin (Poland) and we are also looking into developing
something similar or parallel thing in the southern part of, the
eastern part of the Alliance," he said.

Answering a question, Stoltenberg said: "Everything we do, when
it comes to increasing our own collective defence, by
establishing an enhanced NATO Response Force and establishing
the very high readiness force, the Spearhead Force, is something
which is defensive, it is a response to what we are seeing from
Russia over a period of time, and it is in full accordance with
our international obligations."

Asked by Russian media at a news conference if the six countries
where new NATO command and control centres will be set up are
faced with an external threat, Stoltenberg said that there was
no specific immediate threat to them.