{"id":158142,"date":"2015-10-08T07:18:36","date_gmt":"2015-10-08T07:18:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/4cd.e16.myftpupload.com\/?p=158142"},"modified":"2015-10-08T07:18:36","modified_gmt":"2015-10-08T07:18:36","slug":"nato-meets-over-russia-syria-campaign","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2015\/10\/nato-meets-over-russia-syria-campaign\/","title":{"rendered":"Nato meets over Russia Syria campaign"},"content":{"rendered":"
Russia’s growing military involvement in the Syria conflict is expected to be high on the agenda of Nato defence ministers meeting in Brussels.<\/p>\n
It comes after Nato member Turkey said Russian jets had violated its airspace.<\/p>\n
Russia has fired missiles from a warship in addition to air strikes to support Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad.<\/p>\n
But Moscow denies Western accusations that its strikes have mainly hit Assad opponents, some supported by the West, and not Islamic State (IS) militants.<\/p>\n
BBC defence correspondent Jonathan Marcus says Nato aims to make clear it will respond to any challenge.<\/p>\n
Russia wants to show that Western policy in Syria has failed and there are other forces to be supported there, primarily President Bashar al-Assad.<\/p>\n
The Kremlin’s desire appears to be aimed at keeping America on the back foot.<\/p>\n
The use of cruise missiles on Wednesday does not change the situation militarily – the same effect could have been achieved by air strikes.<\/p>\n
But Mr Putin wants to project his power on the world stage, to show that he is a force to be reckoned with.<\/p>\n
On Thursday, Nato Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the alliance had expressed its concern over Russia’s “strong and increased military presence” in Syria.<\/p>\n
He called on Moscow to play a “constructive and co-operative role” to fight IS and to stop supporting Mr Assad.<\/p>\n
But he added that the situation underlined the need for political initiatives to end Syria’s war.<\/p>\n
Nato ministers are expected to express their solidarity with Turkey. They will also address increased concern among Baltic member states following Russia’s involvement in eastern Ukraine.<\/p>\n
UK Defence Secretary Michael Fallon is expected to announce that Britain is ready to make a long-term troop deployment to the Baltic republics, our correspondent says.<\/p>\n
But, he adds, ministers are meeting amid a deepening sense of crisis.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, Russia said it had launched missile strikes against IS from warships in the Caspian Sea – about 1,500km (930 miles) away.<\/p>\n
Russia’s foreign ministry also said Moscow was willing to establish contact with the Free Syrian Army – a Western-backed rebel group – to discuss fighting IS “and other terrorist groups”.<\/p>\n
But US Defence Secretary Ash Carter said coalition forces fighting IS in Syria would not co-operate with Russia.<\/p>\n
“We believe Russia has the wrong strategy,” he said. “They continue to hit targets that are not IS.”<\/p>\n
Airspace violations<\/strong><\/p>\n Russia’s air campaign in Syria has raised fears of accidental contact between Russian warplanes and those of the US-led coalition which have been targeting IS for the past year.<\/p>\n Pentagon officials revealed they recently had to carry out at least one “safe separation” manoeuvre to avoid a US jet coming too close to a Russian aircraft over Syria.<\/p>\n