Filenews 11 June 2022
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky said today that his country "will definitely prevail in this war started by Russia."
Speaking from an unspecified location in Kiev, Zelensky told participants of the 'Sangri-La Dialogue' in Singapore that his country is not able to export enough food due to the Russian blockade and that the world will face "acute and severe food crisis and famine."
Moscow raises the tone
At the same time, Russia is raising the tone and threatening NATO, with a similar response if the alliance increases its forces in Poland.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said today that Moscow's response to an increase in NATO forces in Poland will be proportionate, a Russian diplomat said according to the ABE, cited by the Interfax news agency.
"A response, as always, will be proportionate and appropriate, aimed at neutralising potential threats to the security of the Russian Federation," said Oleg Tiapkin, head of the foreign ministry's department responsible for Russia's relations with Europe.
It is recalled that the Russian President warned the West a few days ago that his country would hit new targets if the US starts providing Ukraine with longer-range missiles.
9 countries call for NATO support
Meanwhile, the leaders of nine Central and Eastern European countries gathered yesterday in Bucharest to call for reinforcement of NATO's eastern wing in the face of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, less than three weeks before the North Atlantic Alliance summit scheduled for late June in Madrid.
"Faced with increased security risks in Romania and the Black Sea, NATO's consolidation in its eastern wing (...) it becomes even more urgent and critical," Romanian President Klaus Iohannis said at the start of the meeting, which is co-chaired by his Polish counterpart, Andrei Duda.
Article 5
The Alliance's summit will set out "a long-term vision, through its new strategic concept, putting collective defence and Article 5 [of its treaty] at the heart of its actions", he underlined, supporting the "strengthening of the deterrence and defence stance", in response "to the threats posed by Russia".
Article 5 of the NATO treaty stipulates that if a NATO country is attacked by armed means, each Member State of the Alliance shall regard this act of violence as an armed attack directed against all members and shall take the appropriate measures it deems necessary to assist the country under attack.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, who had announced his participation in the Bucharest meeting, was forced to cancel it due to health problems, but is expected to participate in the discussions online.
The leaders of the nine participating countries – Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, the Czech Republic, Romania and Slovakia – will examine the impact of the Russian invasion on the security of the Alliance's "vulnerable partners", including Moldova and Georgia.
During a telephone conversation with Duda on Wednesday, US President Joe Biden reaffirmed "the US commitment to security (...) of NATO's eastern wing" and expressed the hope that the Bucharest meeting would be a "success".
In 2017, NATO deployed multinational battlegroups to the Baltic States and Poland to deter Russia and then sent reinforcements after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in late February.
