Ukraine crisis: NATO to create 'high-readiness force,' secretary general says
Kiev, Ukraine (CNN) -- NATO members meeting this week in
Wales are expected to create "a very high-readiness force" to deal with Russian
aggression in Ukraine and other international conflicts, NATO Secretary General
Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Monday.
In a
speech on the NATO website, Rasmussen said the fighting force will be part
of an overall Readiness Action Plan that "responds to Russia's aggressive
behavior -- but it equips the alliance to respond to all security challenges,
wherever they may arise."
He said this "spearhead" force
would be able to "travel light, but strike hard if needed."
NATO will look at possible
upgrades The White House supports the idea
of a rapid response team for NATO, but National Security Spokesman Caitlin
Hayden cautioned that the force would be "defensive" in posture.
The new force is "not intended as
a provocation, or as a threat to Russia, but rather as a demonstration of NATO's
continued commitment to our collective defense," Hayden said.
New bases will be set up and
equipment pre-positioned at bases, a NATO diplomatic source said.
"We are also facing crises to the
southeast and south," said a senior NATO official. The plan "needs to be able to
deal with all crises that we might be facing in the future from wherever they
might come."
Rasmussen said President Petro
Poroshenko of Ukraine will attend the summit and NATO will "make clear our
support for Ukraine."
On the ground, Ukrainian forces
appear to be outgunned by Russian rebels.
"We have seen as recently as
Saturday, that the Ukrainian army is very, very unarmed compared to the rebels,"
said Michael Bociurkiw, a spokesman for the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe, which is monitoring the situation in Eastern Ukraine.
On Monday, U.K. Prime Minister
David Cameron told Parliament that the presence of Russian soldiers on Ukraine
soil is completely unjustified and unacceptable.
"Russia appears to be trying to
force to Ukraine to abandon its democratic choices through the barrel of a gun,"
he said.
Cameron said new sanctions
measures will be drawn up by the EU within a week.
Ukraine airfield attack
reported
A Russian army tank attacked
airfields in eastern Ukraine on Monday, Ukrainian military officials said, amid
worsening tensions between Kiev and Moscow.to infrastructure that could include airfields and ports, he said.A battle is under way at the
airport of the eastern city of Luhansk, Ukrainian counter terrorism officials
said.
"There is a very, very bad
situation developing in Luansk," Bociurkiw said. "Ukrainian officials are
warning of a humanitarian catastrophe due to the lack of water and
electricity."
Shortly before the attack,
Russia urged the Ukrainian military to retreat from civilian locations in the
east, saying pro-Moscow separatists in the region will not disarm for fear of
getting killed.
The same day, Ukraine said one
of its patrol boats was capsized and two of its crew are missing off the coast
of the city of Mariupol. Officials did not say who was behind the attack.
Poroshenko has said thousands of
Russian troops are in his nation's east, helping the separatists.
Though Russia has denied sending
its troops to Ukraine, it defended the rebels' action in the east.
"Washington and Brussels need to
ask Kiev authorities to stop shelling the houses, schools, hospitals and so on
because you leave militia with no choice but to stand up to protect their
people," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.
Lavrov: 'Let us sit down
and talk'
"Let's not ask militia to lay
down their weapons and allow themselves to be killed."
Lavrov said negotiations, not
threats, will help resolve the crisis between the two neighbors.
"Let us sit down and talk
instead of threatening with sanctions and stubbornly making absolutely
unrealistic demands of the militia laying down arms," he said. "This is what the
peace plan of Poroshenko is about."
Russian President Vladimir Putin
sparked controversy when he talked about "statehood" for eastern Ukraine.
"Substantive meaningful talks
related to the issues of society's political organization and statehood in
southeastern Ukraine should start immediately in order to protect people living
there," Putin said Sunday.
The Kremlin later denied that
Putin was calling for statehood in the region, saying he was referring to
inclusive talks with all sides represented.
Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimean
Peninsula in March following the ouster of President Viktor Yanukovych the
previous month.
Violence broke out in the
eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions in April when separatist leaders declared
independence from the government in Kiev. Since then, the conflict between the
pro-Russia rebels and the Ukrainian military has killed 2,500 people, according
to the United Nations.
U.S. lawmaker visits
Ukraine
A U.S. lawmaker called for the
arming of Ukrainian forces along the eastern border.
Sen. Robert Menendez, D-New
Jersey, is in the Ukrainian capital of Kiev. He said the conflict in eastern
Ukraine is not a rebel uprising, but a Russian invasion.
"We should be providing the
Ukrainians with the type of defensive weapons that will impose a cost upon Putin
for further aggression," said Menendez, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee.
In the past, U.S. President
Barack Obama has opposed supplying Ukraine with weapons. .
Poroshenko warned that his
nation's crisis with Russia has worsened, and is inching closer to a "full-scale
war."
The European Union has demanded
Moscow withdraw its troops or face additional sanctions.
European Council President
Herman Van Rompuy said new sanctions are in the works for Russia. Proposals will
be ready for consideration in a week, he said over the weekend
Source:http://edition.cnn.com/2014/09/01/world/europe/ukraine-crisis/index.html?iref=allsearch
Structure:
What: NATO members are expected to create a "a very high readiness force" to deal with Russian aggression in Ukraine and other international conflicts
Who: NATO Sceretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen
When: Monday
Where: Wales
Key words:
1 rebel 反抗者
2 NATO ( North Atlantic Treaty Organization) 北大西洋公組織
3 aggression 侵略
4 airfield 飛機場
