Free Republic

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Tuesday invited Ukraine to join a security bloc of former Soviet republics, a step that would draw Ukraine closer into Moscow's embrace. Ukraine has forged warm ties with its former Soviet masters since the February election of President Viktor Yanukovich as president. Yanukovich, an ex-mechanic from the Russian-leaning east of the country, frequently speaks Russian at public events. Former Ukrainian president Viktor Yushchenko shunned Russia and attempted to take his country into NATO, despite considerable public opposition. NATO members put Ukrainian membership on the back burner in 2008. Medvedev, on his first state visit to...

Poland will unveil its first US Patriot-type missiles battery at a military base in the northern town of Morag on May 26, a Polish defence ministry spokesman said Tuesday, AFP reports. "Ceremonies associated with the first rotation of the Patriot missile battery will be held Wednesday, May 26, in Morag", spokesman Janusz Sejmej said in a statement. Asked by AFP, the defence ministry's press service declined Tuesday to provide further details. The Polish military base at Morag, in the Mazurian Lakes region, is some 250 kilometres (150 miles) north of Warsaw and just 60 kilometres (40 miles) from the border...

The saga of the Romanian air force’s selection of a “new” fighter to replace its MiG-21bis Lancer is becoming a heated political, industrial and economic battle that is not likely to be solved anytime soon. A buy of 24 secondhand U.S. Air Force Lockheed Martin F-16C/D fighters was originally announced in March by Defense Minister Gabriel Opera, without a formal competition. The F-16s — old Block 25 airframes in service with the U.S. Air National Guard — were expected to be free, but the price tag eventually reached $1.3 billion (€1 billion) when training, weapons, aircraft modification and infrastructure requirements...

Troops from four NATO states will march through Red Square for the first time Sunday as Russia marks the 65th anniversary of the World War II victory with its biggest parade since the Soviet collapse. In a moment of huge symbolism, soldiers from Britain, France, Poland and the United States will step onto the square's famed cobbles while Russia proudly displays nuclear-capable missiles that once threatened Western targets. With Russia seeking to trumpet its post-Soviet resurgence, 10,000 Russian troops and military hardware including nuclear-capable Topol-M missiles will take part in a finely choreographed parade that has been months in rehearsal....

The first-ever battery of US Patriot missiles to be deployed in Poland will arrive in late May, defence ministry spokesman Janusz Sejmej told AFP on Wednesday. "Following preparations and consultations, the first deployment of a battery of anti-missile Patriots will start around May 24 in Morag," Sejmej said. The Polish military base at Morag, in the Mazurian Lakes region, is some 250 kilometres (150 miles) north of Warsaw and just 60 kilometres (40 kilometres) from the border with Russia's Kaliningrad territory. Sejmej refused to say how long the deployment would last, but said it was "temporary". In February, Poland ratified...

April 30, military contingents conducting the QRA Baltic Air-policing mission will change during a ceremony at the LAF Siauliai Air Base: Polish Air Contingent with four MiG-29 will replace French soldiers. Polish forces are deploying air assets for the Baltic Air-policing mission for the third time (after service on January-March 2006 and March-June 2008 with MiG-29 fighter-jets). The majority of the present shift come from the 23rd Air Base and the 1st Tactical Squadron of the Polish Air Force based in Minsk Mazowiecki near Warsaw. The third Polish rotation named „Eagle 3" will comprise 100 troops, 8 of them pilots....

Eastern Europe After The Tragedy In Smolensk Source: by Andrew Wilson, European Council on Foreign Relations Posted on: 25th April 2010 Last week I was one of the legions of the stranded. First I was trapped by the Eyjafjallajökull eruption in Ukraine and then I found a car to Warsaw on the Monday after the service to commemorate the victims of the Smolensk crash in Kraków. There were still so many people to bury, with thousands watching the funeral of Ryszard Kaczorowski, the last president on the wartime government-in-exile, on a giant TV screen in the main square. But what...

The plane crash Saturday that wiped out much of Poland's political and military leadership -- including President Lech Kaczynski -- was a staggering blow to a nation that's struggled, successfully, to rebuild in the post- Communist era. It also offers the world, especially Washington, a chance to reflect on the Eastern European nation's strategic value as Russia seeks to reclaim a dominant role in global affairs. Democracy and capitalism have borne fruit in Poland, where Soviet hegemony -- and international communism -- began to unravel 30 years ago. Last year, Poland's GDP swelled by nearly 2 percent, even as much...

An ally who feared U.S. indifference. Tragedy In Smolensk: Lech Kaczynski was a Polish patriot and a friend of the West who believed in the defense of freedom and democracy. We don't have many friends like him, and we treated him shabbily. Numerologists might note the number 70 figured prominently in both the life and death of Poland's president. Kaczynski, 60, his wife Maria, an economist, and 95 others who died Saturday on their way to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the massacre of 22,000 Polish prisoners in the Katyn Forest in western Russia in 1940 by Stalin's secret...

Since the collapse of Communist rule in Eastern Europe in 1989, the countries involved have explored different ways of dealing with the past. Albania took a different path to many, something which is still affecting it today, says the BBC's Iain MacInnes.> We met Ramiz Alia, the former leader of the Communist Party of Albania and, later, the first president of the post-communist Republic of Albania. Enver Hoxha, who led Albania from World War II until his death in 1985, designated Mr Alia as his successor as party leader. Mr Alia, who remained in power until 1992, has some regrets...

A Pennsylvania woman known to authorities as "Jihad Jane" was charged with conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists, conspiracy to kill in a foreign country, making false statements to a government official and attempted identity theft. The indictment, unsealed Monday, charges that Colleen R. LaRose, and five unindicted co-conspirators recruited men on the Internet to wage violent jihad in South Asia and Europe, and recruited women on the Internet who had passports and the ability to travel to and around Europe in support of violent jihad.

Romania is holding talks with Washington to deploy about 20 interceptor missiles as part of a U.S. missile shield, Romanian Foreign Minister Teodor Baconschi said on Feb. 25. Earlier this month, the Balkan country's top defence body approved a U.S. proposal to include Romania in a system it said aimed at providing defence against attack by ballistic missile or mid-range rockets. The move angered Russia, eastern Europe's former Cold War master. "The talks will probably take a year and a half. They concern deploying 20 interceptor devices at different locations in Romania," Baconschi told a news conference in Sofia after...

Bulgarian Foreign Minister Nikolay Mladenov on Wednesday played down Russian protests over Sofia's plans to join a United States missile shield in Europe. "This shield is not directed against threats coming from Russia. On the contrary, the threats that exist for us equally exist for our Russian friends," Mladenov told bTV television. "We have to find a way to protect us all," he added. Bulgaria said last week that it favoured new US plans for a shield in Europe to counter missile threat from Iran and the Middle East. But the announcement angered Russia, with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov demanding...

Moldova's breakaway region of Trans-Dniester has reacted to US plans for a missile defence shield by offering to host new Russian missiles. The US wants to base elements of its missile defence shield in neighbouring Romania and Bulgaria - much to Russia's concern. Trans-Dniester leader Igor Smirnov said Russia had not yet asked it to be a host but any request would be approved. Trans-Dniester is already home to Russian troops and an arms dump. The Trans-Dniester region declared independence from Moldova in 1991. Sharp criticism Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has already asked for an explanation from the US...

Viktor Yanukovych, the expected next Ukrainian president, says he cannot rule out Russia's Black Sea Fleet remaining in Ukraine after its lease on the Sevastopol naval base expires in 2017. Preliminary results showed Yanukovych narrowly winning Ukraine's presidential election, and although the official count has not been released he has been congratulated by world leaders including the Russian and U.S. presidents. The Party of Regions leader is expected to move Ukraine away from the determinedly pro-Western stance of President Viktor Yushchenko, who vowed that Russia would have to find a new main base for its Black Sea Fleet once the...

Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov said Friday he favoured taking part in a new US missile defence system in Europe and a US ambassador indicated that talks have already started. Neighbouring Romania has angered Russia by announcing it wants to host medium-range ballistic missile interceptors as part of a US missile defence system expected to be operational by 2015. Asked about Bulgaria's stance on the system, Borisov said: "As a NATO member, we take into consideration everything that concerns Europe's security and will undertake the respective measures." "In my view, we have to show solidarity (with US plans) but Bulgaria's...

A high-level defense policy expert with ties to Washington, D.C. said the Czech Republic is in discussions with the Obama administration to host a command center for the United States' altered missile-defense plan. The official, who requested anonymity because discussions are ongoing, said, "The Czech Republic is not out of the picture." "There are strategic dialogues going on between the United States and the Czech Republic," said Jiří Beneš, a Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman. "No concrete proposal has been mentioned yet." In recent days, the Obama administration's altered missile-defense plans have begun to take shape as Romanian President Traian Basescu...

Romanian President Traian Basescu announced last week that his country would accept an US offer to base medium-range interceptor missiles (the proposed land-based version of the SM3 system) as part of the revamped missile defence plans formulated by the Obama Administration in 2009. "Romania has been officially invited by US President Barack Obama to be part of the [new] missile defence system," Basescu said after a meeting of the country's Supreme Defence Council. He stated that talks between Washington and Bucharest on the issue should start in the near future and any agreement will be submitted to Romanian parliament for...

Romania has agreed to base American anti-missile systems on its territory. These will probably be land based Aegis systems. So far, Aegis has achieved an 83 percent success rate during live test firings. So now everyone wants an Aegis ABM (Anti-Ballistic Missile) ship for protection. The Aegis system was designed to operate aboard warships (cruisers and destroyers that have been equipped with the special software that enables the AEGIS radar system to detect and track incoming ballistic missiles). However, there is also a land based version that Israel is interested in buying. The development version of AEGIS was land based,...

Russian president Dmitry Medvedev on Friday signed a new version of its main military strategy document which named NATO expansion as one of the chief threats to the country's security. The document, published on the Kremlin web site, listed first among "chief outside military threats" the fact that NATO is attempting to "globalise its functions in contravention of international law." It also cited attempts to bring "military infrastructure of NATO members closer to Russian borders, including by expanding the bloc." Russia has bristled at moves by former Soviet republics such as Georgia and Ukraine to join NATO and relations between...