DefenceTalkNATO foreign ministers on Tuesday (1 April 2014) reaffirmed their commitment to enhance the Alliance’s collective defence, agreed to further support Ukraine and to suspend NATO’s practical cooperation with Russia. “NATO’s greatest responsibility is to protect and defend our territory and our people. And make no mistake, this is what we will do,” NATO Secretary […]https://www.defencetalk.com/nato-takes-measures-to-reinforce-collective-defense-59208/

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/

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/

DefenceTalkA total of 72 military units in Crimea have hoisted Russian flags instead of Ukrainian and applied to join the Russian armed forces, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Friday. “Yesterday, 72 military units almost in full strength decided to join the Russian armed forces. We are now dealing with service and citizenship issues of […]https://www.defencetalk.com/72-crimean-military-units-request-joining-russia-59122/

DefenceTalkUkrainian servicemen filed out of navy headquarters in Sevastopol on Wednesday with tears in their eyes after the base was seized by pro-Moscow militants, Russian troops and Cossack forces. The assault began when some 200 unarmed militants — some of them in balaclavas — sawed through a fence and overran the base before heavy heavily […]https://www.defencetalk.com/tears-and-threats-as-ukrainians-quit-navy-hq-59100/

DefenceTalkNATO said several of its websites were targeted in a “significant” cyber attack on Saturday that was claimed by Ukrainian hackers in what appeared to be the latest bout of virtual warfare linked to the country’s crisis. Spokeswoman for the military alliance Oana Lungescu said on Twitter that the websites had been hit by “a […]https://www.defencetalk.com/nato-websites-targeted-in-attack-claimed-by-ukrainian-hackers-59055/

DefenceTalkFour former Soviet satellites in Central Europe signed a military pact Friday to coordinate defence planning and to create a joint combat unit to operate under NATO and EU auspices, in response to the Ukraine crisis. “The current situation in Europe shows that unfortunately a military conflict, previously considered unthinkable, could happen,” Polish Defence Minister […]https://www.defencetalk.com/former-soviet-satellites-sign-joint-military-pact-59053/