In response to a changed security environment, last year NATO adopted a Readiness Action Plan, which includes its Spearhead component, the Very High Readiness Joint Task Force (VJTF), and other defensive measures which can be operatively implemented in the Alliance's territories.
The Foreign Ministers' meeting in Brussels focused on security threats to the Alliance arising from the Middle East and North Africa region, as well as challenges related to the increase in Russia's military activities.
Linkevičius highlighted solidarity with Turkey, as the ongoing civil war in neighbouring Syria and Russia's military activities in the region threatened the territorial integrity of this country.
The Foreign Ministers discussed the need to step up work on risk reductions to avoid or prevent incidents form happening in the future. However, according to Linkevičius, at the moment there is no sign that Russia is interested in the discussions on risk reduction and transparency that would help avoid new incidents and reduce the risk of conflict. The Foreign Ministers also discussed the possibility to take full advantage of the existing bilateral mechanisms and all OSCE instruments.
According to Lithuania's Foreign Minister, the Alliance's main task is the full implementation of the Readiness Action Plan and further adaptation of NATO's military strategic posture in order to ensure that the Alliance is ready to respond swiftly and firmly to the new security challenges.
Linkevičius also underlined that Lithuania was ready to discuss the way forward for relations with Russia, but not distracting attention from the main issues – the situation in eastern Ukraine and the implementation of the Minsk agreements.
NATO Foreign Ministers adopted a strategy for dealing with hybrid warfare, decided to invite Montenegro to begin accession talks to join the Alliance and stressed that the door remained open also for other countries that aspired for NATO membership.
The Resolute Support Ministerial meeting also took place in Brussels. During the meeting, the Foreign Ministers of NATO and Resolute Support operational partners (Afghanistan, Japan and South Korea) discussed security situation in Afghanistan, further activities in this country, the development of the partnership between NATO and Afghanistan, and support for the national Afghan forces. The participants agreed to extend the Resolute Support mission in Afghanistan in 2016.
