Jens Stoltenberg

With fighter jets roaring overhead, NATO has inaugurated a military center in the Lithuanian capital amid growing regional concerns over Russia's military presence, sparked by the fighting in Ukraine.

Montenegro MPs have submitted to Parliament a resolution voicing support for the country's accession into NATO, regional news outlets have reported.

Debates on the document are to begin at an extraordinary session scheduled for September, according to Serbian agency Tanjug.

Former Bulgarian Foreign Minister Nadezhda Neynsky has said one of her main goals as incoming Ambassador to Turkey will be to look for bilateral solutions on how to bolster control at the common borders.

Neynsky is to take over Sofia's mission in Ankara "very soon", though no date has yet been specified.

NATO expressed solidarity with its member Turkey on Tuesday over recent terror attacks in the country as Alliance ambassadors gathered for a meeting to discuss the Turkish military campaign against the Islamic State group and Kurdish rebels.

NATO was holding an emergency meeting at Turkey's request on July 28 to discuss Ankara's military campaign against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in Syria. 

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said on Monday that Turkey has not asked the Alliance for "substantial military support" in its fight against the Islamic State group and Kurdish militants.

"Turkey has a very strong army and very strong security forces. So there has been no request for any substantial NATO military support," AFP quoted Stoltenberg as saying in an interview with the BBC.

Turkey has not asked for substantial military help from NATO in its campaign against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and Kurdish militants, the alliance's chief said on July 27, a day before it meets to discuss the fighting.

Turkey on Sunday formally requested an emergency NATO meeting on Tuesday following an escalation of violence on its borders with Syria. Turkey invoked article 4 of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), which allows members to request assistance from allied nations in the event they feel  their ‘territorial integrity, political independence or security is threatened’.

Jens Stoltenberg says "Serbia's decisions and contacts with Russia must be respected - because it is the choice of an independent country and its people."

Croatian Foreign Minister Vesna Pusic on Thursday announced that her Serbian counterpart Ivica Dacic had canceled his participation in the Croatia Forum.