NATO summit starts in Warsaw on Friday

The upcoming NATO summit will be the most important session of the Alliance since the end of the cold war, stated Tomáš Valášek the Permanent Representative of the Slovak Republic to NATO in an interview for the public broadcaster RTVS. The summit is to take place this Friday and Saturday in Warsaw, Poland. As Representative Valášek noted, NATO openly talks about its deterrence strategy towards Russia and, in reaction to it, Russia has increased the number of soldiers present at its border. However, Valášek at the same time emphasised that the rise of the number of the Alliance's troops at the Russian border is only moderate. "In the end, the number of NATO's armed forces is still dozens of times lower than that of the other side. Therefore, we cannot talk about any preparations for acts of aggression," said Valášek. The reason for such acts is, as he explained, the Russian tests of NATO's solidarity with its eastern states, through for instance, intelligence operations. "In this situation we believe it is better to send a clear signal of solidarity and determination. We believe that this will take away Russia's motivation to test NATO and prove the Alliance's readiness," explained Valášek. He also emphasised that NATO invited Russia to participate at its meetings. Thus, the Alliance explains its steps and reasons behind them in the time of tension in Ukraine and Baltic states. Valášek also added that Slovakia actively participates in NATO actions. As a part of the rotating program of the Visegrad four countries (Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland) Slovakia plans to send 150 members of a training unit to the Baltic states in 2017.