Nato chief’s warning on Russia

Nato jets have intercepted more than 400 Russian planes so far this year, a 50 per cent increase from all of 2013, said thee alliance's secretary general Jens Stoltenberg.

US secretary of state John Kerry, right, speaking with Turkish foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, left, at a Nato foreign ministers meeting in Brussels on December 2, 2014. John Thys/AFP Photo

BRUSSELS // The standoff between Russia and Nato members could “spin out of control” as the Kremlin continues to violate ceasefires in Ukraine and its warplanes challenge alliance airspace, the military bloc’s chief said.

North Atlantic Treaty Organisation jets have intercepted more than 400 Russian planes so far this year, a 50 per cent increase from all of 2013, Nato secretary general Jens Stoltenberg said in Brussels on Tuesday at a meeting of foreign ministers from the 28 alliance member states.

“The problem is not just the numbers, but the way these flights are done in a very aggressive way,” Gen Stoltenberg said.

His warning came as the alliance issued a statement accusing Russia of sending tanks, advanced air-defence systems and other heavy weapons across the border to Ukrainian rebels. Russia, which denies it’s involved in Ukraine, accuses Nato of stoking the conflict by moving more military equipment to its eastern members.

Gen Stoltenberg said Nato ministers on Tuesday agreed to keep a “continuous presence” in the east. Germany, Norway and the Netherlands will take the lead in fielding an interim brigade in early 2015 to serve as the nucleus of a planned rapid-reaction “spearhead” deployable within days in response to a threat in the east.

The US already has 700 troops serving rotation tours of duty in Nato members Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland — each of which shares a border with Russia — a US official said, adding that US forces will stay in the region as long as the threat persists.

Gen Stoltenberg laid the blame on Russia for what he said were repeated violations of a ceasefire in eastern Ukraine. “Nato does not seek confrontations, we don’t want a new cold war,” he said, while cautioning that “the situation in Europe may not go back to normal for a long time.”

The fighting in eastern Ukraine has killed more than 4,300 people and left at least 10,000 wounded.

* Bloomberg News