NATO Plans Baltics Air Security, Russia Suspicious
26 February 2004 09:55
NATO is planning to provide air security for the Baltic states and Slovenia when they join the organisation this spring, but it is treading carefully because of Russia's sensitivity about alliance aircraft on its borders. A NATO official said on Wednesday military planners were working urgently on a plan to ensure the new eastern wing of the alliance was not left undefended because of these four countries' lack of fighter jets. "This is a very complex issue," the official told reporters. "It is also highly political in the context of the Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) treaty, Russian sensitivities about the basing of NATO aircraft."
Signed in the dying days of the Cold War, the CFE limits the number of military equipment deployed and stored between the Atlantic Ocean and Russia's Urals Mountains. Underlining Moscow's suspicions, the Russian air force expressed anxiety about a demonstration flight this week by one of NATO's AWACS early warning aircraft over Latvia. It had earlier asked to put an observer on board. The Interfax news agency quoted an air force spokesman as saying such flights would enable NATO to carry out deep air reconnaissance in northwestern Russia and Belarus.
Excerpted from: Gateway2Russia