NATO can now deploy forces in eastern Europe says Deputy Secretary General

NATO is no longer bound by past commitments to hold back from deploying its forces in eastern Europe, according to the US-led alliance’s Deputy Secretary-General Mircea Geoana.

Speaking in Vilnius, the capital of  Lithuania, the Deputy Secretary-General claimed that Moscow has “voided of any content” of the NATO-Russia Founding Act, due to its ongoing war with Ukraine, as well as refusing to facilitate dialogue with the alliance, as reported by Almayadeen.

Under the 1997 Founding Act, which intended to improve the relationship between Russia and the Alliance, both sides agreed to work to “prevent any potentially threatening build-up of conventional forces in agreed regions of Europe, to include Central and Eastern Europe.”

Referring to Russia, Geoana stated that “They took decisions, they made obligations there not to aggress neighbours, which they are doing, and to have regular consultations with NATO, which they don’t.”

“So I think that in fact this founding act is basically not functioning because of Russia,” he stated adding that Moscow had effectively broken the terms of the 1997 agreement.

The NATO Deputy Secretary General also stated that “Now we have no restrictions to have robust posture in the eastern flank and to ensure that every square inch of NATO’s territory is protected by Article 5 and our allies.”

NATO’s article 5 refers to collective defence of the nations, stating that if one member state is attacked it will be considered an attack on all member states.

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