NATO mulls security as Russian ships pass by Bosphorus

Russian warships passing through the Bosphorus are another reminder that NATO has to reinforce its collective security, Britain’s Defense Secretary Michael Fallon has said.

Addressing a joint press conference with his American counterpart Ashton Carter in London Friday, Fallon said that the alliance had long seen a Russian presence on its eastern frontier, but the past week had seen the first demonstration of Russian pressure on NATO’s southern flank.

“Russia risks making a grave situation much worse. We want Russia to use its influence with Assad to find a diplomatic solution and help alleviate the humanitarian crisis,” he said.

Fallon was responding to questions about the movement of Russian warships through the Bosphorus strait in Istanbul on their way to the eastern Mediterranean and the recent incursions into Turkish airspace by Russian jets flying over Syria.

Asked if he was concerned about recent Russian deployments in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, he said: “So far as the build-up in the eastern Mediterranean and ships passing through the Bosphorus is concerned, it’s yet another reminder to NATO that NATO has to look to its collective security as a whole.

“There is pressure of course on the eastern flank, there is concern in Norway, but the movement of Russian aircraft and ships and submarines to the north, but now we have for the first time a very real demonstration of Russian pressure on the southern flank.”

Fallon said that NATO needs to look at its collective security and “not be frightened or diverted” by the build-up.

Carter added: “We have made it very clear and the Turks have made very clear that we’re not prepared to have any impediments to our conduct of our counter-ISIL [Daesh] campaign, and of course NATO stands strongly behind the integrity of Turkish airspace.”

The U.S. defense secretary also hinted at a possible change in the United States’ Syria strategy, saying President Barack Obama would announce changes to the training it provides to Syrian opposition forces later on Friday.

Carer said the “key to having a sustainable defeat” of Daesh was to assist “capable and motivated forces on Syrian territory” who are willing to fight it, but did not answer specific questions on whether the United States would fund new recruiting centers in the region.