Spain sends warships to Black Sea after tension in the region rises

Spain has sent warships to join NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) naval forces in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea as tension in the region mounts due to Russian military escalation on the Ukrainian border, the minister said. Defense, Margarita Robles, this Thursday (20).

A minesweeper is already on the way and a frigate will leave in three or four days, Robles told reporters. The Madrid government is also considering sending fighter jets to Bulgaria, she said.

“Russia cannot tell any country what to do, so NATO will protect and defend the sovereignty of any country that can or wants to join NATO,” she said.

Spain’s preference was for an “exclusively diplomatic response” to resolve the conflict, he added.

The Spanish contribution to NATO’s military deployment in Eastern Europe comes after Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken discussed a coordinated response to Russia’s threat to Ukraine at a meeting in Washington on Tuesday.

Russia has concentrated tens of thousands of troops on its borders with Ukraine and Western countries fear that Moscow is planning a new attack on a country it invaded in 2014.

The Kremlin denies it is planning an attack but says it could take unspecified military action if a list of demands is not met, including a NATO pledge never to admit Ukraine as a member.

Western officials, diplomats and former officials told Reuters this week that NATO, created in 1949 to deter the Soviet threat, has been forced to consider reinforcements that go against Putin’s demand that the alliance should not expand further east. .

Denmark said it was sending a frigate to the Baltic Sea this week and French President Emmanuel Macron has offered to send troops to Romania. Further troop decisions could be made as early as the NATO summit in Madrid in June, diplomats and officials said.