NATO

Stoltenberg said the military alliance's forces in the Baltic states and five other frontline countries would be increased "up to brigade levels", doubled or trebled to between 3,000 and 5,000 troops, the Guardian reported. That would amount to "the biggest overhaul of our collective defence and deterrence since the cold war", he said before the meeting of the 30-country alliance, which runs from Tuesday to Thursday this week.

In a statement, the Ministry said HMCS Kingston and Summerside are deployed to contribute to NATO assurance and deterrence measures in Central and Eastern Europe, adding that the Canadian Armed Forces is maintaining a presence in European waters on a persistent rotational basis since 2014, reports Xinhua news agency. According to the statement, between July and October 2022, HMCS Kingston and Summerside will join Standing NATO Mine Countermeasures Group One.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan told NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in a phone call that Finland and Sweden had to take sincere and tangible steps over the harbouring of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and Syria's Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) within their borders, reports Xinhua news agency. The President pointed out that the military and industrial sanctions on Turkey should be lifted and not be put back into effect after the accession.

"When World War II broke out, Hitler united a significant number, if not most, of the European countries under his banner for a war against the Soviet Union," TASS News Agency quoted Lavrov as saying at a press conference following talks with Azerbaijani top diplomat Jeyhun Bayramov in Baku on Friday.

As the Minister reiterated Russia's repeated claim that there were Nazis in Ukraine, he was asked about an official UN report about Yahidne village in Ukraine's Chernihiv region, where "360 residents, including 74 children and five persons with disabilities, were forced by Russian armed forces to stay for 28 days in the basement of a school" and if that was "fighting Nazis?"

This presence should be "unitary and coherent, robust, credible and sustainable, especially on the Black Sea", Iohannis said after co-chairing the Summit with his Polish counterpart Andrzej Duda, reports Xinhua news agency. Leaders attending the Summit discussed recent security developments and the allied response, the Romanian President said, in preparation for decisions at the NATO Summit in Madrid later this month.

Nearly 60 surface warships, boats and supply vessels, about 45 aircraft and helicopters, and some 10,000 soldiers are involved in the massive exercises, the Ministry said in a statement on Friday. The sailors will practice searching ships of the mock enemy and carry out measures for anti-air, anti-ship and anti-submarine defense, Xinhua news agency reported.

"Both countries should clearly display that they have given up supporting terrorism, that they have lifted sanctions against Turkey, and that they are ready to show alliance solidarity," Erdogan told the NATO chief in a phone call, Xinhua news agency reported. Stoltenberg stressed the "necessity to meet the expectations of Turkey, an important ally."

Even though the United States believes that there is a very "strong consensus" in NATO for the admission of Finland and Sweden, the entire process has hit a major roadblock with Ankara asking for elimination of the "terrorist threats" -- majorly those associated with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (Kurdish acronym PKK) - originating from these countries first.

Last week's negotiations with Finnish and Swedish delegations in Turkey's capital Ankara were not at the "expected level", Erdogan told journalists. "They have expectations, but they did not take the necessary steps regarding Turkey," Xinhua news agency quoted the President as saying. On the contrary, they kept on the activities which Turkey has been criticising, he added.