Baltics to Black Sea: Nato summit puts on show of unity but splits evident
Some members want to avoid forcing Russia into a corner while others don’t want to deploy more troops than the agreed number if required
Leaders at the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation summit that ended on Saturday sought to demonstrate unity among the 28 alliance members as they face multiple threats and uncertainties, from Islamic State to Russia to Brexit. In that, they appeared to succeed.
The seeds of discord, however, were also evident, as leaders wait to discover what Russia’s response to the decisions made at the Warsaw summit will be.
For Poland and the Baltic states, the 4,000 troops that Nato members agreed to deploy across four countries may not be the end of what’s required, depending on Russia’s actions. At Nato’s last summit just two years ago, leaders announced a smaller rapid reaction force for the Baltic states, to similar fanfare.
Further south, Romania and the US are now looking to shift attention to beefing up defences in the Black Sea region. Saturday’s communique upgraded the Black Sea to an area of “strategic importance” for the alliance. Member governments were given until a meeting of defence ministers in the fall to produce proposals on how to strengthen security there.
