Zitat:23. Juni 2015, 14:37 Uhr

USA verlegen schwere Waffen nach Osteuropa

Schon die Überlegungen hatten Protest in Moskau ausgelöst. Jetzt verlegen die USA tatsächlich schweres Militärgerät in Nato-Staaten Mittel- und Osteuropas - "vorübergehend".

Die USA werden "vorübergehend" schweres Militärgerät in die Nato-Staaten Mittel- und Osteuropas verlegen. US-Verteidigungsminister Ashton Carter sagte am Dienstag in der estnischen Hauptstadt Tallinn, das Material umfasse Ausrüstung für eine Brigade, also für mehrere Tausend Soldaten. Dazu zählten unter anderem Panzer und Artillerie.
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Zitat:Spannungen zwischen NATO und Russland
USA verlegen Militärgerät nach Osteuropa

Stand: 23.06.2015 18:17 Uhr Die USA wollen vorübergehend 250 Panzer, bewaffnete Fahrzeuge und anderes Militärgerät in sechs NATO-Staaten in Osteuropa verlegen. Das kündigte US-Verteidigungsminister Carter in Tallinn an. Der Ukraine-Konflikt ist Thema eines Außenministertreffens in Paris.

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Es handele sich um Ausrüstung für Einheiten in der Größenordnung einer Kompanie oder eines Bataillons, darunter etwa 250 Panzer, bewaffnete Fahrzeuge und anderes Militärgerät. Eine US-Kampfbrigade besteht aus rund 5000 Soldaten.
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Zitat: Bundeswehr beteiligt sich an Manövern in der Ukraine
Zwischen der Nato und Moskau droht neuer Streit: Das Bündnis plant zwei Militärübungen in der Ukraine. Auch die Bundeswehr ist dabei. Angeblich gibt es keine Verbindung zu „tatsächlichen Weltereignissen“.

05.07.2015 ...

Zitat:Konflikt mit Russland

Amerika erwägt Ausbildung ukrainischer Soldaten

Die Vereinigten Staaten denken über die Verstärkung ihres militärischen Engagements in der Ukraine nach. Ein amerikanischer General sieht in dem Konflikt mit Russland „ein Potenzial für eine weitere Offensive“. [...]

Die Vereinigten Staaten erwägen eine Ausweitung ihres Militär-Ausbildungseinsatzes in der Ukraine. Es werde darüber nachgedacht, neben der Nationalgarde des Innenministeriums künftig auch Soldaten und Spezialeinsatzkräfte zu trainieren, die dem ukrainischen Verteidigungsministerium unterstünden, sagte der Oberkommandierende des amerikanischen Heeres in Europa, Ben Hodges, am Montag in Washington. [...] Die ukrainische Armee kämpft bereits seit 15 Monaten gegen die Separatisten im Osten des Landes. Bei dem Konflikt wurden bislang mehr als 6500 Menschen getötet.

Zitat:Parade in der Ostsee
Putins Marineshow vor Kaliningrad

Stand: 26.07.2015 16:58 Uhr
Seit mehr als 300 Jahren feiert Russland am letzten Sonntag im Juli seine Kriegsmarine. In diesem Jahr ist Präsident Putin dafür zur Parade nach Kaliningrad gereist. 2000 Soldaten beteiligten sich an dem Spektakel.
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Zitat:Erste Verlegung des Stealth-Fighters nach Europa

F-22 Raptors in Spangdahlem eingetroffen

Erstmals hat die USAF ihren modernsten Jäger F-22A nach Europa verlegt. Bis Mitte September sollen die Stealth-Fighter mit den allierten Luftstreitkräften trainieren. [...]

Die Verlegung der Lockheed Martin F-22A erfolgt im Rahmen der „European Reassurance Initiative“, mit der die USA ihre „Entschlossenheit und Engagement für die europäische Sicherheit" zeigen wollen.

Zitat:Russia Objects To US Nuclear Missile System Deployment In Romania

The Russian government raised objections Thursday after the U.S. military began constructing and testing in Romania a missile-defense system that the Kremlin contends has elements in direct violation of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty. The first parts of the new system were delivered Tuesday to Deveselu, a small town on Romania's border with Bulgaria, although the defensive weapon is not expected to be operational until late 2016, according to Interfax, a Moscow-based news agency.

"We have taken notice that the Aegis Ashore system deployed in the said area [in Romania] includes MK-41 multifunctional launching systems, which U.S. Navy vessels use to launch both interceptors and intermediate-range Tomahawk guided missiles," Russian Foreign Ministry representative Maria Zakharova said at a news briefing, thus indicating Russia's belief the Aegis system would be capable of being employed for both offensive and defensive purposes. [...]

The INF Treaty was signed by the Soviet Union and the U.S. in 1987. It prohibits nuclear and conventional ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with intermediate ranges, defined as between 500 and 5,500 kilometers (between 300 and 3,400 miles). The Aegis system does not officially fall into that category when used to defend against ballistic missiles. If fitted with the MK-41 launching capability suggested by Moscow, however, it would enable the launching of intermediate-range nuclear-capable ballistic missiles.

Zitat:NATO may combat Kremlin "weaponisation of information" used to support action such as the 2014 seizure of Crimea by creating a new more powerful communications section and declassifying more sensitive material, according to draft plans.

Both NATO and the European Union are concerned by Russia's ability to use television and the Internet to project what they say is deliberate disinformation. The EU set up a special unit last year to counter what it considers overt propaganda.

Draft proposals by NATO's military committee seen by Reuters set out how military tactics - to understand adversaries and then influence foreign audiences - could become part of a more integrated communications strategy.

The 23-page document, part of a long-running debate at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, is sensitive.

NATO, in its own parlance, is considering "strategic narratives that lead to aligned words and actions ... appropriately adapted and culturally attuned to resonate with all audiences and counter opposing narratives."

NATO declined to comment on the draft but said its military committee is working on a policy of strategic communications.

"Nations are yet to discuss this draft policy and it is the nations who will ultimately approve it," said Eva Svobodova, public affairs and strategic communications advisor to the chairman of the military committee.

Though favored by Britain and others, the United States is wary of any strategy that could be construed as base propaganda.

Officials say the credibility of NATO, an alliance of 28 democracies, relies on being open and truthful.

"One of the main principles of NATO is that we cannot counter propaganda with more propaganda," said NATO spokesperson Oana Lungescu, who grew up in Romania under communist rule.

Russia has invested in a state-of-the-art media organization with hundreds of journalists abroad intended to wean the world off what it calls aggressive Western propaganda - dubbing it, with echoes of the Cold War, Sputnik.

It is also now very active on the internet, in social media such as twitter.

"They can create a virtual reality that is meant to confuse and achieve certain aims," said one Western diplomat.

BLURRED LINE

NATO, according to the proposals, could move more quickly to declassify images to back NATO warnings of threatening activity, as well as communicating more on social media. The strategy may be discussed at a July summit in Warsaw.

After Russia moved into Crimea, NATO unveiled photographs of Russian deployments near the Ukrainian frontier but they were commercial satellite images and shown more than a month after the annexation.

NATO already has two strategic communications units, a YouTube channel with some 33,600 followers, and has increased its social media presence and its response to media queries.

However, some believe that is not enough, pointing to unconventional warfare techniques from unidentified troops - the so-called "green men" without insignia in Crimea and eastern Ukraine - to disinformation operations and cyber attacks.

Strategic communications involves coordinating various means of informing the media and the public, as well as so-called psychological operations (PsyOps), to influence public opinion.

"NATO is indicating it wants strategic communications to be better placed to detect information threats at the earliest stage," said Stephen Badsey, professor of conflict studies at the University of Wolverhampton.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, in words that might have been uttered in Cold War days of less sophisticated communications, told the World Economic Forum in Davos there was a "blurring line between war and peace".

Zitat:If Russia Started a War in the Baltics, NATO Would Lose — Quickly

War games show NATO’s eastern flank is vulnerable. To deter Moscow, the United States will need to deploy heavy armor on a large scale, a new study says.

Zitat:If Russian tanks and troops rolled into the Baltics tomorrow, outgunned and outnumbered NATO forces would be overrun in under three days. That’s the sobering conclusion of war games carried out by a think tank with American military officers and civilian officials.

“The games’ findings are unambiguous: As currently postured, NATO cannot successfully defend the territory of its most exposed members,” said a report by the Rand Corp., which led the war gaming research.

In numerous tabletop war games played over several months between 2014-2015, Russian forces were knocking on the doors of the Estonian capital of Tallinn or the Latvian capital of Riga within 36 to 60 hours. U.S. and Baltic troops — and American airpower — proved unable to halt the advance of mechanized Russian units and suffered heavy casualties, the report said.

The study argues that NATO has been caught napping by a resurgent and unpredictable Russia, which has begun to boost defense spending after having seized the Crimean peninsula in Ukraine and intervened in support of pro-Moscow separatists in eastern Ukraine. In the event of a potential Russian incursion in the Baltics, the United States and its allies lack sufficient troop numbers, or tanks and armored vehicles, to slow the advance of Russian armor, said the report by Rand’s David Shlapak and Michael Johnson.

“Such a rapid defeat would leave NATO with a limited number of options, all bad,” it said.

The United States and its NATO allies could try to mount a bloody counter-attack that could trigger a dramatic escalation by Russia, as Moscow would possibly see the allied action as a direct strategic threat to its homeland. A second option would be to take a page out of the old Cold War playbook, and threaten massive retaliation, including the use of nuclear weapons. A third option would be to concede at least a temporary defeat, rendering NATO toothless, and embark on a new Cold War with Moscow, the report said.

However, the war games also illustrated there are preemptive steps the United States and its European allies could take to avoid a catastrophic defeat and shore up NATO’s eastern defenses, while making clear to Moscow that there would no easy victory.

A force of about seven brigades in the area, including three heavy armored brigades, and backed up by airpower and artillery, would be enough “to prevent the rapid overrun of the Baltic states,” it said. The additional forces would cost an estimated $2.7 billion a year to maintain.

The report was released Tuesday, the same day Defense Secretary Ash Carter unveiled plans to add more heavy weapons and armored vehicles to prepositioned stocks in Eastern Europe to give the Pentagon two brigade sets worth of heavy equipment on NATO’s eastern frontier. As it stands now, there are two U.S. Army infantry brigades stationed in Europe — one in Italy and the other in Germany — but they have been stretched thin by the constant demands of training rotations with allies across the continent. The new $3.4 billion plan outlined by Carter and the White House would add another brigade to the mix, but it would be made up of soldiers from the United States, rotating in for months at a time.

Late last month, Gen. Philip Breedlove, commander of U.S. European Command, released a new strategy anticipating — and pushing back against — the call for more rotational forces. Flying troops in and out of the region “complements” the units who call Europe home, he wrote, but they’re no “substitute for an enduring forward deployed presence that is tangible and real. Virtual presence means actual absence.”

David Ochmanek from the Rand Corp., a former senior Pentagon official who has studied the challenge posed by Russia’s military, called the administration’s budget proposal for European forces an important step and an “encouraging sign.”

“Heavy armored equipment, pre-positioned forward, is the sine qua non of a viable deterrent and defense posture on the alliance’s eastern flank,” Ochmanek told Foreign Policy. But he said much more needed to be done to strengthen NATO’s defenses.

The findings from the war games will be warmly welcomed by senior officers in the U.S. Army, who have struggled to justify the cost of maintaining a large ground force amid budget pressures in recent years and a preference for lighter footprints. And the report will reinforce warnings from top military leaders, including the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Joseph Dunford, that Russia may represent the number one threat to U.S. interests.

In early 2012, the Obama administration announced the withdrawal of two heavy brigades and their equipment from Germany, cutting deeply into the U.S. Army’s traditional, large footprint on the continent. Since then, the service has been slowly trying to move some hardware back into Germany for use in training exercises with NATO partners. Last year, U.S. Marines also began to roll a small number of Abrams tanks into Romania for a series of exercises with local forces.

Since Russia’s intervention in Ukraine sparked alarm in Eastern Europe, the United States has repeatedly vowed to defend Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania in the event of an attack, citing its mutual defense obligations under the NATO alliance. In a September 2014 speech in Tallinn, President Barack Obama made an explicit promise to protect the Baltic countries.

“We’ll be here for Estonia. We will be here for Latvia. We will be here for Lithuania. You lost your independence once before. With NATO, you will never lose it again,” Obama said.

But the Rand report said “neither the United States nor its NATO allies are currently prepared to back up the president’s forceful words.”

The borders that the three Baltic countries — all former Soviet republics — share with Russia and Belarus are about the same length as the one that separated West Germany from the Warsaw Pact during the Cold War. But in that era, NATO stationed a massive ground force along the frontier with more than 20 divisions bristling with tanks and artillery.

Tanks are few and far between now in NATO countries, the report said. Germany’s arsenal of about 2,200 main battle tanks in the Cold War has declined to roughly 250. Britain, meanwhile, is planning on pulling out its last brigade headquarters left on the continent.

With only light infantry units at the ready in the Baltics, U.S. and NATO planners are also worried about the continued Russian arms buildup in the exclave of Kaliningrad on the Baltic coast between Poland and Lithuania, and Moscow’s intention to build a new air force base in Belarus, just south of the Polish-Lithuanian border.

The war games run by Rand underscored how U.S. and NATO forces lack the vehicles and firepower to take on their Russian adversaries, which have maintained more mechanized and tank units. NATO ground troops also lacked anti-aircraft artillery to fend off Russian warplanes in the Baltic scenario.

“By and large, NATO’s infantry found themselves unable even to retreat successfully and were destroyed in place,” the report said.

In the war games, although U.S. and allied aircraft could inflict damage on the invading Russian forces, they also were forced to devote attention to suppressing Russia’s dense air defenses and defending against Russian air attacks on rear areas.

Although it was unclear if deploying more troops and armor would be enough to discourage Russia from gambling on an attack in the Baltics, NATO’s current weak position clearly did not pose a persuasive deterrent, the report said.

By undertaking “due diligence” and bolstering NATO’s defenses, the alliance would send “a message to Moscow of serious commitment and one of reassurance to all NATO members and to all U.S. allies and partners worldwide,” it said.

Zitat:Putin is a bigger threat to Europe’s existence than Isis
George Soros

Thursday 11 February 2016 10.22 GMT
Last modified on Thursday 11 February 2016 18.03 GMT

The leaders of the US and the EU are making a grievous error in thinking that president Vladimir Putin’s Russia is a potential ally in the fight against Islamic State. The evidence contradicts them. Putin’s aim is to foster the EU’s disintegration, and the best way to do so is to flood Europe with Syrian refugees.
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Zitat:EU und Russland: "Beziehungen sind verdorben" [...]

Russlands Ministerpräsident Dmitri Medwedew fand bei der Münchner Sicherheitskonferenz drastische Worte. [...] "Die Beziehungen zwischen EU und Russland sind verdorben, in der Ukraine tobt ein Bürgerkrieg." Und weiter: "Praktisch jeden Tag werden wir zur größten Bedrohung erklärt." Die Welt brauche aber "die Zusammenarbeit und nicht die Konfrontation". [...]

Unmittelbar vor Beginn der Konferenz einigten sich die wichtigsten Akteure für eine Lösung des Syrien-Konflikts auf ein Papier, das die Fortsetzung des Friedensprozesses ermöglichen soll. Es sieht humanitäre Hilfe für belagerte Gebiete und eine Feuerpause innerhalb einer Woche vor. [...]

In München nannte NATO-Generalsekretär Jens Stoltenberg Russland eine "internationale Macht". [...] Er wolle Russland allerdings nicht als "Feind" der NATO bezeichnen, wie Putin es umgekehrt mit Blick auf die NATO getan habe. "Die Welt ist zu kompliziert, um sie in Freund und Feind zu unterteilen", befand er und ergänzte: "Ohne Russland können wir die großen Konflikte nicht lösen."

Zitat:The United States will step up its troop presence in eastern Europe in response to "an aggressive Russia," with continuous rotations of an additional armored brigade beginning in early 2017, the US military said yesterday.

The rotations will bring the US Army's presence in Europe to three fully manned combat brigades, the US European Command said. A brigade comprises about 4,200 troops.

Zitat:In a March 31, 2016 interview with Russia 24 TV, Russian envoy to NATO Aleksandr Grushko promised a "totally asymmetrical" response if NATO carries out its plan to deploy new armored units to Eastern Europe.[4] Grushko said: "We are not passive observers, we consistently take all the military measures we consider necessary in order to counterbalance this reinforced presence that is not justified by anything. Certainly, we’ll respond totally asymmetrically." He added that Russia's actions would correspond to its "understanding of the extent of the military threat; not only will this not be extremely expensive, but it will also be highly effective.”

Zitat:Shoigu added that in 2016, Russia's Western Military District will be upgraded with over 1,100 pieces of military hardware, including Sukhoi Su-35 advanced fighter jets, Koalitsiya-SV and Msta-SM self-propelled howitzers, and S-400 antiaircraft missile systems. The District has set up a new 1st Tank Army headquartered in the Moscow area. During 2016, Russia will raise its alert levels and conduct 800 operative and combat training drills to boost the military's response readiness.

Zitat:Russian Academy of Sciences Institute of International Security Problems researcher Alexei Fenenko suggested that the main "compensating response "might be tactical nuclear forces: "Today we have superiority in tactical nuclear weapons in the European theater of operations. It seems to me that placing them in European Russia, Belarus, and the Baltic Fleet will, apparently, sufficiently compensate for the American [move to strengthen NATO]."

Zitat:Nato: USA fordern größeres deutsches Engagement in Osteuropa

Die Bundeswehr soll sich stärker an der Abschreckung gegen Russland beteiligen. Eine entsprechende Forderung wird US-Präsident Obama beim Minigipfel in Hannover stellen. [...] Die USA drängten darauf, dass sich die Bundeswehr signifikant an der geplanten Stationierung von einander ablösenden Nato-Einheiten an der Nato-Ostgrenze beteilige, berichtet der Spiegel unter Berufung auf deutsche Regierungskreise.

Der US-Präsident wird am Montag beim Minigipfel in Hannover mit Kanzlerin Angela Merkel (CDU), Frankreichs Staatschef François Hollande, dem britischen Premierminister David Cameron sowie Italiens Ministerpräsidenten Matteo Renzi zusammentreffen. Vor allem von Großbritannien und Deutschland erwarten die USA dem Bericht zufolge Truppen und Kriegsgerät für die Nato-Präsenz in den baltischen Staaten sowie in Polen und Rumänien. Dies habe der US-Präsident bereits im Nationalen Sicherheitsrat angekündigt. [...]

Mit der Forderung würde Obama die Bundesregierung unter Zugzwang setzen. Bislang hat sich Deutschland bei der Planung zurückgehalten, da die Bundeswehr bereits maßgeblich an der neuen Eingreiftruppe der Nato beteiligt ist und für diese Zusagen bis ins Jahr 2020 gemacht hat.

Russland hatte 2014 die Schwarzmeer-Halbinsel Krim von der Ukraine annektiert und ins eigene Staatsgebiet integriert. In der Ostukraine unterstützen russische Soldaten und Militärberater die Separatisten im gewalttätigen Konflikt mit der Regierung in Kiew. Etliche osteuropäische Staaten befürchten vor diesem Hintergrund eine weitergehende russische Expansion. Seit Beginn des Ukraine-Konflikts hat die Nato ihre Präsenz in den osteuropäischen Nato-Staaten bereits schrittweise verstärkt. Die USA haben angekündigt, dauerhaft eine Panzerbrigade in Osteuropa zu stationieren.

Zitat:Russia cries foul as Nato activates missile defences in Europe

Tensions between Russia and the West rose still further on Thursday when Nato declared that a missile defence site in Romania had become operational.

A battery of American SM-3 interceptors, designed to shoot down incoming missiles, was activated at Deveselu military base. A similar facility is due to become operational in Poland in 2018. [...] Nonetheless, Russia claims to sees the missile defence plan as direct threat to the deterrent power of its own nuclear arsenal. “From the very outset, we kept saying that in the opinion of our experts the deployment of an anti-missile defence poses a threat to Russia," said Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman.