Key developments on May 15: * Zelensky sends Ukrainian delegation to Istanbul, as peace talks with Russia are expected on May 16 * Trump expects no progress in Russia-Ukraine peace talks until he meets Putin * Pro-Ukraine partisans sabotage railway track near Russia's Smolensk * Ukraine shows its latest 'ship-killer' Magura drone series to
The United States is proposing to revive the NATO-Russia Council as part of a broader American plan to end the war in Ukraine, Bloomberg reported on May 15, citing unnamed sources.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko's statement came as Strong Shield 5 exercises involving military personnel from other NATO countries began in Lithuania.
These efforts include expanding military bases near the Russian city of Petrozavodsk, around 160 kilometers (100 miles) east of Finland, the planned site for a new headquarters that could potentially command tens of thousands of troops, the Wall Street Journal wrote.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov argued that the end of the Eastern Bloc eliminated the threat NATO was originally created to counter, yet the alliance not only persisted but also allegedly claimed a dominant role in European security.
The joint declaration at the Washington summit last year included a commitment to "develop recommendations on NATO's strategic approach to Russia, taking into account the changing security environment."
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said this in reaction to an article by the Financial Times claiming that during the talks in Riyadh on Feb. 18, Russian delegates asked for the NATO rollback as a condition for "normalizing relations."
Russia is training 150,000 troops in Belarus for a large-scale operation that could happen as early as this summer, Zelensky said. "There are risks that this can be Poland and Lithuania."
"If (Russian President Vladimir) Putin attacks NATO, the reaction will be devastating. He will lose," NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said.
Russia may find the opportunity to launch a large-scale war on Europe within five years, if Moscow "perceives NATO as militarily weakened or politically divided," an unclassified intelligence assessment from the Danish Defense Intelligence Service (DDIS) warned.
Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that a united NATO, bolstered by strong U.S. leadership, is essential to counter Putin's ambitions and safeguard Ukraine's sovereignty, according to Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
NATO allies met on Dec. 30 to address the security of critical infrastructure in the Baltic Sea, following damage to undersea cables connecting Estonia and Finland several days earlier.
"The appearance of North Korean troops dressed in Russian uniforms or Iranian proxies on the borders of NATO countries is quite realistic if Russia is not stopped now. The North Korean military is already fighting in Europe. Who could have thought of this before?" Andriy Yermak said.
"What really worries me is that one of these attacks, as I say, will break through in a big way," Deputy Assistant Secretary General James Appathurai told Sky News.
"Everybody in NATO and in the EU right now has the feeling in their backbone that you should increase defense expenditure because of what is happening all over the world and with Russia," Estonia's Prime Minister Kristen Michal told Reuters.
Russia should prepare for multiple scenarios, including a war with NATO, in the next 10 years, Defense Minister Andrei Belousov said.
The comments came shortly after a Russian warship fired a warning shot at a German military helicopter patrolling the Baltic Sea.
The NATO-Ukraine Council convened at a meeting on Nov. 26 in response to Russia's use of the intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM), "Oreshnik", the NATO alliance said in a news release.
"The message (to Russian President Vladimir Putin) is that we will continue, that we will do what's necessary to make sure that he will not get his way, that Ukraine will prevail," Mark Rutte said during a joint interview with Reuters and German radio Hessischer Rundfunk on Oct. 13.
Moscow's ultimate goals are to "push the U.S. out of Europe," roll back NATO boundaries to the 1990s, and create a "Russian sphere of influence" that will cement a "new world order," said German intelligence chief Bruno Kahl.
"It's time to now craft a new strategy in terms of (the allies') specific positions," a senior U.S. official said. Defense ministers from NATO member nations will convene in Brussels Oct. 17-18 to discuss the matter.
NATO lacks adequate air defenses, military mobility, ammunition, and the mindset to be fully ready for a large-scale conventional war, retired U.S. Lieutenant General Ben Hodges said on Oct. 2.
NATO jets intercepted six Russian aircraft flying over the Baltic Sea without transponders or a flight plan over the past two days, the Latvian Air Force reported late on Sept. 21.
Speaking at a meeting of the Bucharest Nine (B9) format, Romanian Defense Minister Angel Tilvar called for "enforcing the rotational air defense and integrated anti-missile model as soon as possible."
The charge d'affaires "was requested to provide a comprehensive explanation of the incident, in which an unmanned aerial vehicle illegally violated Latvia's airspace while also carrying explosives," the Latvian Foreign Ministry said.
Russia is likely testing Poland's air defense system, Polish Brigadier General Tomasz Drewniak told Radio RMF24 on Aug. 27, after a likely Russian drone flew into Polish airspace on Aug. 26 amid a mass attack on Ukraine.
The alleged plans, drawn up between 2008 and 2014, include lists of targets for missiles that can carry both conventional warheads and tactical nuclear weapons.
Captain Michael Giss, commander of the Hamburg State Command of the German Armed Forces, said Germany must prepare to withstand "a conventional attack by Russia within five years."
The news that the development of an IT system used by British nuclear submarine engineers was outsourced to Belarusian developers has led to calls that the U.K. must carry out an urgent review of defense supply chains, the Telegraph reported on Aug. 3.
The German and Swedish air forces scrambled NATO jets on Aug. 3 after two Russian jets were detected heading toward Latvian airspace over the Baltic Sea.
Lithuanian authorities are drawing up plans for mass evacuations of civilians in case of armed conflict, the LRT public broadcaster reported on July 25, citing the country's Interior Ministry.
Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev сlaimed that Ukraine joining NATO would be viewed as a declaration of war against Moscow. "The actions that Russia's opponents have been taking against us for years, expanding the alliance ... take NATO to the point of no return," Medvedev was quoted as saying.
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