DefenceTalkPoland and the United States will announce next week the deployment of U.S. ground forces to Poland as part of an expansion of NATO presence in Central and Eastern Europe in response to events in Ukraine. That was the word from Poland’s defense minister, Tomasz Siemoniak, who visited The Post Friday after meeting with Defense […]https://www.defencetalk.com/us-ground-troops-going-to-poland-defense-minister-says-59353/

DefenceTalkNATO will suspend cooperation with Russia on the maintenance of Afghan helicopters and a joint anti-drug operation, a source in the alliance told RIA Novosti. Foreign chiefs of NATO’s 28 member states earlier froze “practical civilian and military cooperation” with Moscow but vowed to keep intact the NATO-Russia Council and diplomatic contacts at the ambassadorial […]https://www.defencetalk.com/nato-to-suspend-cooperation-with-russia-on-afghan-choppers-training-59203/

DefenceTalkThe West’s relations with Russia are at an historic low. This comes after years of NATO’s enlargement policy in Eastern Europe. Should the military alliance have acted more cautiously? Jamie Shea likes to reference knowledgeable people. In the context of the NATO enlargement process, he quotes Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw, who said: “All great […]https://www.defencetalk.com/is-nato-expansion-to-blame-for-crimean-crisis-59190/

DefenceTalkHaving effectively annexed Crimea, Russia now threatens the territorial integrity of the rest of Ukraine. How are Ukraine’s ground forces configured to deal with the challenge? This map is the closest approximation of Ukrainian ground force (along with airborne and air-mobile units) deployments based on research of Ukrainian armed forces until February 2014. Readers will […]https://www.defencetalk.com/current-status-of-ukraines-ground-forces-59171/

DefenceTalkRussia has begun preparations for terminating bilateral agreements with Ukraine related to the status and operation of the Black Sea Fleet, a Kremlin spokesman said Friday. The decision was made at a meeting of the country’s Security Council chaired by President Vladimir Putin. According to spokesman Dmitry Peskov, the measures to be scrapped include a […]https://www.defencetalk.com/russia-moves-to-scrap-black-sea-fleet-agreements-with-ukraine-59186/

DefenceTalkThe Army and NATO are watching “very carefully” the troop deployments and the exercises they’re doing in Russia, said Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno. “I think it’s important for us that we operate within the NATO framework to address these issues and we are doing that,” he told lawmakers in reply to a […]https://www.defencetalk.com/csa-army-watching-eastern-europe-closely-59181/

DefenceTalkNorway condemns Russia’s annexation of the Ukrainian Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the use of armed force in Ukraine. This is a clear violation of international law and an unacceptable course of action that must have consequences. Norway has therefore informed Russian authorities of its decision to suspend all planned bilateral military activities between Norway […]https://www.defencetalk.com/norway-suspends-planned-military-activities-with-russia-59150/

DefenceTalkAll military units stationed in Crimea are now under the control of the Russian military, and remaining Ukrainian servicemen are departing the peninsula, the region’s first deputy prime minister, Rustam Temirgaliyev, said on Monday. As Crimea’s reunification process began last week, a total of 147 military units in the predominantly Russian-ethnic region have replaced Ukrainian […]https://www.defencetalk.com/no-ukrainian-military-units-left-in-crimea-59124/

DefenceTalkFrance has suspended most of its military cooperation with Russia, the French defence minister said Friday, as Paris was still mulling whether to nix the sale of two Mistral warships to Moscow. Paris has suspended “the majority of its military cooperation with Russia” in the wake of Moscow’s takeover of Crimea, Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le […]https://www.defencetalk.com/france-suspends-most-military-cooperation-with-russia-59106/

DefenceTalkChina’s President Xi Jinping touches down in the Netherlands on Saturday for his first-ever Europe tour, with the continent in a diplomatic frenzy after Russia’s absorption of the Crimea. Xi is expected to land at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport shortly after noon (1100 GMT), where he’ll be welcomed by Dutch King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima as […]https://www.defencetalk.com/chinas-xi-on-first-europe-tour-as-ukraine-crisis-deepens-59103/