Foreign relations of NATO

NATO will begin the largest air force deployment exercise in Europe in the alliance's history on Monday in a display of unity toward partners and potential threats such as Russia.

The German-led "Air Defender 23" will run until June 23 and include some 250 military aircraft from 25 NATO and partner countries including Japan and Sweden, which is bidding to join the alliance.

A US soldier gestures to a North Macedonian armoured vehicles near Kumanovo, North Macedonia. Photo: EPA-EFE/GEORGI LICOVSKI

Citizens of several Balkan countries over the weekend and on Monday have had an opportunity to see displays of military equipment being used for the NATO "Immediate Response" military exercise.

This move represents a major change in the North Atlantic Alliance since it hasn't made major defense plans for a long time - in the recent past it participated in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as in the bombing of FR Yugoslavia, but it did not consider post-Soviet Russia an existential threat.

Russia's top diplomat warned Tuesday that the European Union "is becoming militarized at a record rate" and aggressive in its goal of containing Russia.

Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told a news conference he has no doubts that there is now "very little difference" between the EU and NATO.

They were invited to speed up this process, Ukrainian parliamentarian Alexei Goncharenko said, RIA Novosti reports.
"Rada appealed to NATO member countries and the NATO Parliamentary Assembly to speed up Ukraine's entry into the Alliance," Goncharenko wrote on his Telegram channel.

Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias was in Brussels on Tuesday to attend a meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Commission (NUC), which will be preceded by a ceremony welcoming Finland into the alliance. 

The flag-raising ceremony at NATO headquarters for the alliance's 31st member is being attended by Finnish President Sauli Niinisto and government ministers.

Finland is poised to join NATO on Tuesday, a historic realignment brought on by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, but the head of the military alliance said it would not send more troops to the Nordic country unless it asked for help.

The Finnish president on March 23 formally sealed the Nordic country's historic bid to join NATO by signing into law the required national legal amendments needed for membership in the Western military alliance.

According to 83% of Bulgarian citizens, our country should spend more on defense, while only 8% disagree, and 9% cannot decide. This is indicated by data from a NATO study, included in the annual report on the Alliance's activities presented today, cited by BTA correspondent Nikolay Zhelyazkov.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on March 17 hailed Türkiye 's decision to push ahead with ratifying Finland's membership, and said Sweden should also be allowed to join "as soon as possible".

"The most important thing is that both Finland and Sweden become full members of NATO quickly, not whether they join at exactly the same time," Stoltenberg said.