How Russia’s invasion of Ukraine breathed new life into NATO

Some 700 troops, half of them from NATO countries, took part in an air force exercise at an airbase in Ukraine in October 2018. (AFP/File Photo)
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Updated 15 March 2022
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How Russia’s invasion of Ukraine breathed new life into NATO

  • Once considered a relic of the Cold War, NATO is gaining a new sense of purpose in Ukraine
  • If NATO cannot mount a serious response to Russia, experts warn its future will be in doubt

WASHINGTON D.C.: Seventy-two years after its creation at the dawn of the Cold War, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization has experienced a rude reawakening, as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine threatens to drag member nations into a direct confrontation with Moscow.

For eight years, NATO had largely avoided becoming embroiled in Ukraine. It chided Russia for its annexation of Crimea in 2014 and support of pro-Russian separatists in Donbas and Luhansk, while doing little of consequence to shore up the position of its Eastern European allies.

Now that Russia’s intentions in Ukraine have become clear, Jens Stoltenberg, NATO’s secretary general, has undertaken a peripatetic schedule of meetings with world leaders to drive home the message of the military alliance’s unanimous support for Kyiv.

As Russian warplanes, rockets and artillery pounded Ukrainian cities, forcing more than 2 million people from their homes, Stoltenberg condemned what he described as Russian President Vladimir Putin’s aggression against a sovereign European state and promised a united response.

“President Putin’s war on Ukraine has shattered peace in Europe,” Stoltenberg said during a visit to a military base in Latvia, on NATO’s eastern frontier. “It has shaken the international order and it continues to take a devastating toll on the Ukrainian people.”

Moscow says its “special military operation” is aimed at protecting Russia’s security and that of Russian-speaking people in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region.

Since the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact in 1991 heralded the end of the Cold War, NATO members have frequently quarreled over the precise role — even the necessity — of the alliance, which was built primarily to deter Soviet expansion in post-war Europe.

Now, Russia’s war in Ukraine, a prospective member of NATO and the EU, appears to have breathed new life into the alliance and the values that unite its members, giving it a renewed sense of purpose and resolve.

Victoria Coates, who was a deputy national security adviser to former President Donald Trump, believes the outcome of the war in Ukraine might well determine NATO’s long-term future and relevance.




Jens Stoltenberg, NATO’s secretary general, has undertaken a peripatetic schedule of meetings with world leaders to drive home the message of the military alliance’s unanimous support for Kyiv. (AFP)

“The future utility of NATO will be determined by the events of the next six months,” she told Arab News. “The alliance was severely stressed by the US surrender of Afghanistan to the Taliban without consulting NATO partners in that mission, and is being tested again by Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

“If NATO can coordinate to provide security to civilians and impose multilateral economic sanctions in response to this crisis, it can be a model for other collaborative security networks led by the US around the globe, and new members such as Sweden and Finland should be welcomed.

“But if NATO cannot mount a serious response to Putin, the future of the alliance will be in serious doubt.”

Some analysts believe Putin might have underestimated NATO, perhaps expecting it to implode under the weight of disagreements and past follies. In reality, quite the opposite has happened: It has rallied its members around a common cause and kick-started the biggest mobilization of NATO troops since the 1999 Kosovo intervention.

During a visit to Europe just a week before the launch of the Russian assault, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin warned Putin that his build-up of military forces along Ukraine’s border would only strengthen the NATO alliance.

“Mr. Putin says that he doesn’t want a strong NATO on his western flank,” Austin said at the alliance’s headquarters. “He’s getting exactly that.”




NATO foreign ministers gather for a meeting following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, at the Alliance’s headquarters in Brussels on March 4, 2022. (AFP)

Whether by design or as a result of a miscalculation, Putin decided to call NATO’s bluff and launched the biggest military operation on the European continent since the Second World War.

In the early days of the invasion it was unclear how strongly key members of NATO would react to the threat to their Eastern European allies. Stoltenberg himself had stressed on multiple occasions that NATO was not seeking a direct confrontation with Russia, while France and Germany initially did not appear to be on the same emotional wavelength as the Baltic states, Poland and Romania.

As the days passed, however, any hopes Putin might have had in the Europeans quietly acquiescing were quickly dashed as nation after nation declared solidarity with Ukraine, imposed sanctions on Russia, and pledged to send military equipment and financial aid to the defenders of the country.

Even Finland, which shares Europe’s second-longest border with Russia, after Ukraine, and which has a history of fraught relations with Moscow, is carefully reassessing its neutrality. Its prime minister, Sanna Marin, has promised a thorough debate on whether joining NATO is in the national security interests of the country. Polling data suggests that in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, a majority of Finns would support becoming part of the alliance.

“The war in Ukraine has reinvigorated NATO,” Luke Coffey, a senior fellow at The Heritage Foundation, an American conservative think tank, told Arab News.

“After two decades of out-of-area operations in places like Afghanistan and Libya, the alliance likely got back to basics and focused primarily on territorial defense in the North Atlantic region.

“There is a growing realization that NATO doesn’t have to be everywhere doing everything but it must be able to defend Europe from Russian aggression. We should not forget that all of this comes at a time when NATO is drafting its next Strategic Concept, a document that will help guide the alliance’s strategic approach for the coming years.”




Members of The B Company 87th Division Sustainment Support Battalion, 3rd Division Sustainment Brigade depart for Europe to reassure NATO allies, deter Russian aggression and offer support in a range of other factors in the region. (AFP)

Indeed, until recently NATO’s future appeared to be in doubt as successive US administrations — the Trump White House in particular — pressed members in Western Europe to increase their financial contributions to the alliance.

NATO members are obligated to spend a minimum of two percent of their respective gross domestic products on defense. In reality, this obligation has often only been met by members in Eastern Europe and the Baltic, while members with larger economies tended to drag their feet.

As a result of the Ukraine invasion, however, NATO’s membership and resources might now quickly expand — quite the opposite of what the Kremlin probably wanted.

“In 2016, French President Emmanuel Macron labeled the alliance as ‘brain dead’ and made explicit his preference for more EU capacity, in which France would naturally take the lead,” David DesRoches, a professor at the National Defense University in Washington, told Arab News.

“Putin has single-handedly revitalized and focused the alliance. He has prodded the Germans to reverse a generations-long aversion to defense spending, and in Finland and Sweden he has destroyed the domestic opposition to joining NATO.”

Putin has long viewed NATO expansion in Eastern Europe as a direct threat to Russian security and its sphere of influence. At the same time, NATO has been extremely cautious not to provoke a major war on the European continent, insisting time and again that it is a defensive alliance.

Though Ukraine is not a NATO member, there was broad agreement among military analysts that the lack of a unified approach by member states on previous Russian military activity in the country, including the annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the covert movement of weapons and fighters into Donbas and Luhansk, had exposed weak points in the alliance.

NATO members were divided over just how dire a threat Russia really posed. These differences were finally put to rest when the invasion began.

TIMELINE OF NATO-UKRAINE

Feb. 8, 1994 NATO welcomes Ukraine into its Partnership for Peace, a program open to non-NATO European countries and post-Soviet states.

July 9, 1997 Former Ukraine President Leonid Kuchma meets with NATO leaders in Madrid to open biannual meetings of the NATO-Ukraine commission.

Nov. 21-22, 2002 Kuchma attends the NATO summit in Prague uninvited, declaring Ukraine’s intentions to join NATO and send troops to Iraq.

April 3, 2008 NATO declines to offer Membership Action Plans to Croatia, Georgia and Ukraine after opposition from Russian President Vladimir Putin.

June 3, 2010 Under former President Viktor Yanukovych, Ukraine abandons ambitions to join NATO.

Feb. 7, 2019 Former Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko signs constitutional amendment committing Ukraine to become a member of NATO and the EU.

June 12, 2020 Ukraine is named a NATO Enhanced Opportunities Partner, joining Australia, Georgia, Finland, Jordan and Sweden.

“Putin has taken an alliance which struggled to find the will to react to Russian military overflights of NATO territory and made it into an active military alliance focused on deterring Russian aggression,” said DesRoches.

Germany, Europe’s economic powerhouse, was roundly criticized by Trump for not spending enough on defense while hosting more than 30,000 US troops on its soil. Now the country has expanded its military budget and is sending weapons to support the Ukrainian government.

The Nord Stream II gas pipeline deal between Berlin and Moscow, which would have increased Russia’s energy dominance in Europe, was another bone of contention among NATO allies.

“The Germans have surprised long-time analysts by halting the Nord Stream pipeline and there is surprisingly universal agreement with a very harsh sanctions regime on Russia,” said DesRoches.

“So Putin is exposed as probably the worst strategist of the last 120 years. He has taken a complacent and self-absorbed West and, purely through his own aggression, has created the military alliance which he has claimed to fear the most.”


Slovenia bars two far-right Israeli ministers

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir (L) and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.
Updated 5 sec ago
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Slovenia bars two far-right Israeli ministers

LJUBLJANA: Slovenia announced on Thursday that it would ban two far-right Israeli ministers from entering in what authorities said was a first in the European Union.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich will be declared “persona non grata,” the Slovenian government said in a statement, accusing them of inciting “extreme violence and serious violations of the human rights of Palestinians” with “their genocidal statements.”
In June, Australia, Canada, Britain, New Zealand and Norway imposed similar sanctions on Smotrich and Ben Gvir, key coalition partners in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.
Ben Gvir and Smotrich have drawn international criticism for their hard-line stance on the Gaza war and comments about settlements in the occupied West Bank, the other Palestinian territory.
Smotrich, who lives in a West Bank settlement, has supported the expansion of settlements and has called for the territory’s annexation.
“This is the first measure of this nature in the EU,” Slovenia’s Foreign Minister Tanja Fajon said of the ban.
On May 21, President Natasa Pirc Musar in an address to the European parliament urged the EU to take stronger action, condemning “the genocide” in Gaza.
Slovenia was in May among six European countries to say that they “firmly reject any demographic or territorial change in Gaza” after Israel announced plans to expand its military offensive in the Palestinian territory.
Last year, Slovenia announced it was recognizing a Palestinian state after Ireland, Norway and Spain, in moves partly fueled by condemnation of Israel’s bombing of Gaza after the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks on Israel.
Nearly 150 countries recognize a Palestinian state.


Russia jails major general for six years over fraud at military theme park

Updated 35 min 38 sec ago
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Russia jails major general for six years over fraud at military theme park

  • Major General Vladimir Shesterov was detained last August for his role in the scheme at the Patriot Park
  • The scandal at Patriot Park is one in a slew of criminal cases against former top officials

MOSCOW: A senior Russian Defense Ministry official was sentenced to six years in prison on Thursday after being found guilty of fraud and forgery in relation to an embezzlement scheme at a military theme park, the RIA state news agency reported.

Major General Vladimir Shesterov was detained last August for his role in the scheme at the Patriot Park, a war-themed tourist attraction outside Moscow. Two other men, including Pavel Popov, a former deputy defense minister, are also facing prosecution.

RIA, citing the investigation materials, said Shesterov and the ex-director of the park, Vyacheslav Akhmedov, who is also in custody, forged documents related to completed construction work at the park in the amount of some 26 million roubles ($332,000).

The scandal at Patriot Park is one in a slew of criminal cases against former top officials that have engulfed the Russian army in recent months.

Shesterov fully admitted guilt, but insisted he had not received any material benefit from the scheme.

“I am to blame, I don’t whitewash myself, I sincerely repent,” he said in court, according to RIA.

Akhmedov has also entered a guilty plea in his trial.

The case against Popov, the former deputy defense minister, is ongoing. RIA reported that Popov had instructed Shesterov and Akhmedov to build him a two-story house, a guest house with a sauna, and a two-story garage on land Popov owned in the Moscow region — with the Defense Ministry footing the bill.

Popov has previously denied wrongdoing. Reuters was unable to contact his lawyer on Thursday.

Patriot Park displays a vast collection of Russian and Soviet weaponry, and offers visitors the chance to clamber on tanks and take part in combat simulations. On its website, it also features a photo gallery of “heroes of the special military operation” — Russia’s official term for its war in Ukraine.


Saudi Arabia’s NCNP drives non-profit growth, global ties at World Expo

Updated 42 min 36 sec ago
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Saudi Arabia’s NCNP drives non-profit growth, global ties at World Expo

  • NCNP hosted the panel session — The Future of Non-Profits — at the Saudi Pavilion
  • The panel demonstrated the NCNP’s goal of activating the Kingdom’s SDGs through innovation, collaboration, and strategic partnerships

OSAKA: Saudi Arabia’s National Center for Non-Profit Sector (NCNP) is expanding at a rapid pace with the number of registered NPOs surpassing 5,700 last year.

In a bid to capitalize on the situation and position Saudi Arabia as a global leader in the sector, the NCNP brought together leading voices from the Kingdom’s non-profit organizations (NPOs) for a high-profile panel discussion and for a separate U-Table meeting at the World Expo in Osaka.

NCNP hosted the panel session — The Future of Non-Profits — at the Saudi Pavilion to highlight how the Kingdom has advanced the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through non-profit entities.

The panel demonstrated the NCNP’s goal of activating the Kingdom’s SDGs through innovation, collaboration, and strategic partnerships.

The panel featured HRH Princess Luluah Bint Nawaf Al Saud, President of the Board at Mawaddah Association for Family Stability (MAFS), Reem Abukhayal, Media and PR Manager of Alwaleed Philanthropies, and Dr. Abdullah AlMuhanna, Vice President of Sector Empowerment at National Developmental Housing Foundation (Sakan).

NCNP’s International Communication lead, Alaa Alghamdi addressed the successful models and initiatives led by Saudi NPOs and the challenges and opportunities in scaling impact through innovation, partnerships, and sustainability.

“We were very excited to highlight how NCNP is building a sustainable future through non-profit innovation during our informative panel discussion,” Mishari Alturaif, GM of Government Outsourcing at NCNP, said.

“The Future of Non-Profits discussion underscores the ambitious efforts that NCNP is putting into supporting innovation across the local and global non-profit sector through constructive dialogue and engagement.”

NCNP also hosted a U-Table meeting with leading Saudi and international NPO’s that introduced NCNP and its international collaboration goals.

Participants from the Saudi nonprofit sector included Bunyan Charity, the National Developmental Housing Foundation (Sakan), Saudi Food Bank, and Alwdad Orphanage Care.

The participants exchanged best practices in non-profit governance and public-civil partnerships and identified areas for future collaboration aligned with national priorities and SDGS.

They also discussed the importance of shifting the mindset in the non-profit sector from one that focuses on charity to one of development, allowing for social innovation and entrepreneurship to support economic growth.

“At the U-Table, we had the opportunity to learn about how NCNP is partnering globally to advance non-profit solutions for a better world, solutions that support economic growth and innovation,” Sadakazu Ikawa, co-founder and Executive Director at the Trust Based Philanthropy Japan and Manager at the AVPN.

“We look forward to working with NCNP to activate solutions that help achieve sustainable development worldwide.”

In Osaka, the NCNP team also met with the Japan Foundation to explore opportunities for collaboration with Japanese entities and to exchange international expertise and best practices in the non-profit sector.

Under NCNP’s leadership, Saudi Arabia’s non-profit ecosystem has expanded rapidly. The number of registered NPOs surpassed 5,700 last year, with over 6,000 fundraising licenses issued and more than 2,000 active civil associations. Volunteerism has surged from just under 23,000 in 2015 to 1.2 million in 2024.

Thirty government entities now contribute to non-profit development, showing their rising national importance. Thus, NCNP continues to serve as the Kingdom’s catalyst for non-profit growth, linking local action with global collaboration to unlock sustainable impact.


French court tries couple accused of plan to ‘sacrifice’ son

Updated 17 July 2025
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French court tries couple accused of plan to ‘sacrifice’ son

  • The two music teachers were arrested in southern Spain in late 2023
  • The couple, who hold “anti-system” and “mystical” beliefs, vehemently reject their charges

BORDEAUX: A French couple went on trial on Thursday accused of planning to “sacrifice” their five-year-old son in the Moroccan desert, accusations they have strongly denied.

The two music teachers were arrested in southern Spain in late 2023 as they were about to board a ferry to Morocco after buying a new four-wheel-drive and subletting their apartment near the French city of Bordeaux.

An alarmed relative had told French prosecutors that the father intended to “sacrifice” his son in the desert because he believed he was “possessed,” the investigation showed.

The father, Florian L., denies ever having said that, his lawyer Audrey Boussillon said.

“Never did he have the intention to harm his son in any way,” she added.

The couple, who hold “anti-system” and “mystical” beliefs, vehemently reject the charges of being part of a criminal gang and failing in their duties as parents, their defense team has said.

The attorney for the mother Marie L., Aurelie Filippi-Codaccioni, said the couple had been to Morocco two years earlier and had wanted to return for an undetermined period.

But Merlene Labadie, a lawyer representing the interests of the child, said the couple’s beliefs endangered their son, who spoke of the importance of “being cold, scared and removing the snake within us” when found.

He is now in the custody of his maternal grandparents, she said.

The trial is to last a single day and the verdict will likely be announced at a later date.


Britain seeks German help against people smuggling gangs on landmark Merz visit

Updated 17 July 2025
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Britain seeks German help against people smuggling gangs on landmark Merz visit

  • Keir Starmer and Friedrich Merz signed the first ever ‘friendship treaty’ between their countries at London’s Victoria and Albert Museum
  • Undocumented migration has become a major headache for Starmer’s year-old Labour government, as support for the anti-immigrant Reform UK party soars

LONDON: Britain sought a firm commitment Thursday from Germany to change its law to help smash people smuggling gangs, as the two countries agreed to boost defense ties on the first official UK visit by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
The trip comes a week after undocumented migrants also topped the political agenda during a state visit to Britain by French President Emmanuel Macron.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Merz signed the first ever “friendship treaty” between their countries at London’s Victoria and Albert Museum before heading for talks at the PM’s Downing Street office.
Merz said London and Berlin had agreed an exchange program for German and British students.
Speaking in German, he said he believed allowing the “young generation” to get to know each other and their respective countries was a “good basis for the further development of our relations.”
The two leaders were also expected to unveil a deal to jointly produce military goods such as Boxer armored vehicles and Typhoon jets, which could lead to “billions of pounds of additional defense exports,” Downing Street said.
They were to commit to developing a precision strike missile with a range of more than 2,000 kilometers (1,250 miles) in the next decade.
“Chancellor Merz’s commitment to make necessary changes to German law to disrupt the supply lines of the dangerous vessels which carry illegal migrants across the Channel is hugely welcome,” Starmer said ahead of the talks.
His office said it was hoped the German legal changes could be made “this year.”
Undocumented migration has become a major headache for Starmer’s year-old Labour government, as support for the upstart anti-immigrant Reform UK party soars.
More than 22,500 would-be asylum seekers have arrived on England’s southeastern coast by small boat from northern France this year alone.
The “friendship treaty” also seeks to improve post-Brexit ties with its neighbors.

Macron’s trip in early July was the first state visit to the country by a European Union head of state since Brexit — the UK’s acrimonious 2020 departure from the bloc.
A German government source said “we shouldn’t underestimate” how much relations with the UK had improved since the “traumatic” experience of Brexit.
The friendship deal would be a “foundation on which we go further to tackle shared problems,” Starmer said.
The two leaders were also to discuss continued support for Ukraine, with both countries expected to play a role in US President Donald Trump’s plan to send weapons to Kyiv with financing from other NATO countries.
The visit is Merz’s first to the UK as chancellor, although he has already met Starmer several times, including on a trip by train to Ukraine just days after he took office in early May.
The wide-ranging treaty will refer to the turbulent security situation faced by both countries, and include a mutual defense pact.
“There is no strategic threat to one which would not be a strategic threat to the other,” pact says, with a pledge the two countries “shall assist one another, including by military means, in case of an armed attack.”
While Britain and Germany already have a commitment to mutual defense as NATO members, the treaty aims to pave the way for greater defense cooperation, including operations on NATO’s eastern flank.

German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul accompanied Merz, meeting with his British counterpart, David Lammy.
On migration, Merz’s government is expected to make a commitment to modify German law by the end of the year to criminalize the facilitation of “illegal migration.”
This will include action against storage facilities used by migrant smugglers to conceal small boats intended for Channel crossings.
The two countries will also commit to improving train connections.
Last month Eurostar said it planned to launch a new route from London to Frankfurt in the early 2030s — the first such direct connection between the UK and Germany.