NATO chief calls for closer cooperation with EU

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Tuesday called for closer cooperation between NATO and the European Union (EU) to address common security challenges the two organizations face.

"The EU is an essential and strong partner of NATO. We share the same values, we share many common members and we also share common challenges to the East and to the South," said Stoltenberg after his first meeting with EU defense ministers.

During the meeting, the Secretary General said NATO and the EU had to deal with threats from wherever they came.

Stoltenberg stressed that, like the EU, NATO supports the full implementation of the Minsk Agreements and the work of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe in Ukraine.
Sources: Xinhua - globaltimes.cn
18/11/14
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• NATO warned on Tuesday of a "very serious" build-up of Russian soldiers and weapons inside Ukraine and on the border, as Germany's foreign minister urged Kiev and Moscow to respect a tattered peace plan.

NATO head Jens Stoltenberg issued a stark warning to Moscow over the seven-month conflict in Ukraine's east which has killed over 4,100 people and plunged relations between the West and Russia to a post-Cold War low.

Stoltenberg warned of a "very serious build-up" of troops, artillery and air defense systems inside Ukraine and on the Russian side of the border as he arrived to meet European Union defense ministers in Brussels.

"Russia has a choice. Russia can either be part of a peaceful negotiated solution or Russia can continue on a path of isolation," Stoltenberg said. "The international community calls on Russia to be part of the solution."

• At the same time, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier saw Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk in Kiev, ahead of a crunch meeting later Tuesday in Moscow with Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov - the first such visit by a senior European minister since July. Germany is playing the lead role in mediating the crisis with Russia.

Steinmeier said the peace plan agreed in Belarus in September, and its cease-fire, which has been frequently violated, "were not perfect but they do form a basis. We have to fulfill the agreements."

Russia rejects claims that it provides military backing for the heavily armed separatist rebels in the east..............................http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/892531.shtml

18/11/14