site.btaNATO's Sofia Centre Part of Plans for Strengthening Internal Defence

NATO's Sofia Centre Part of  Plans for Strengthening  Internal Defence


Brussels, February 4 (BTA correspondent Nikolay Jeliazkov) -
NATO's plans to set up a command and control centre in Sofia are
part of the plans to reconsider the Alliance's defence
strategy, senior NATO officials said. A decision on establishing
such centres in Bulgaria, Poland, Romania, Lithuania, Latvia
and Estonia will be made at a one-day defence ministerial in
Brussels on Thursday.

The command and control centres are part of the new planning
cycle as NATO is transitioning from training a force for rapid
deployment abroad to enhancing the potential for action in NATO
territory. This new approach is prompted by the rising tension
the Alliance faces to the east and the south.

The senior NATO officials said the aim is to have a rapid
response force capable of deployment within two days in a NATO
country or region which has received a threat or has been
attacked. The command and control centres in Eastern Europe will
collect and process data to be transferred to the headquarters
of the Multinational Corps Northeast at Szczecin, Poland. It
will direct the activities of the regional headquarters where
experts of the NATO Member States will be working.

The capacity of the existing internal response force will be
increased threefold. It will be able to operate by land, air and
sea. Decisions on the force's deployment will be made by the
NATO North Atlantic Council.

The new approach has been prompted by Russia's conduct. There
are data that Russia has been deploying much larger forces east
of the Baltic republics and in Kaliningrad. NATO representatives
say that Russia has been conducting surprise military exercises
with increasing frequency, which violates the international
standards. There have been reports of anti-terrorist exercises
involving the use of nuclear weapons.

NATO officials say that in the last 10 to 15 years the
Alliance's entire planning was directed outside its territory.
This involved developing light forces capable of rapid
deployment for operations far from the NATO borders. There were
no prerequisites for beefing up mutual defence; however, things
have changed and now NATO needs to be ready for operations along
its external borders, within its territory, and to be able to
launch a very rapid response. Thus the Member States along
NATO's borders will be able to contain or respond to an attack.
A rethink of NATO's overall structure is needed, a NATO
representative said on condition of anonymity.

On Thursday the defence ministers will hold an in-depth
discussion of the Readiness Action Plan, and the Nuclear
Planning Group and the NATO-Georgia Commission will hold
meetings. Every step NATO is taking is intended for defence,
Spokesperson Oana Lungescu said. The situation in Ukraine may
deteriorate further but this will not be provoked by NATO, she
said. Allegations that the Alliance has played a role in the
escalation of the conflict in Eastern Ukraine are nonsense, she
said, adding that there was extensive evidence of Russia's role.