As we reported, there was diplomatic talk about “dialogue with Russia” and even contradictory statements, as the Pentagon has clearly identified Russia as a threat multiple times, but France’s President Francois Holland said today, “NATO has no role at all to be saying what Europe’s relations with Russia should be. For France, Russia is not an adversary, not a threat.”

“In Warsaw, we must reaffirm our determination — our duty under Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty — to defend every NATO ally. We need to bolster the defense of our allies in central and eastern Europe, strengthen deterrence and boost our resilience against new threats, including cyber attacks.”

On the eve of the summit, President Barack Obama reaffirmed US dedication to NATO and mentioned specifically Article 5, which stipulates that all members will come to the defense of any member under attack, although he fell shy of explicitly linking it to cyber defense:

Perhaps the biggest news to come out of the NATO summit so far, aside from the news of the deployment of the Baltic battalions which was already known, was the indication that NATO is prepared to invoke Article 5 over cyberattacks, says New Times, one of the last independent news sites in Russia , which sent a correspondent to the summit.

New Times said “the main sensation” at the summit as people commented in the hallways was the statement by Amb. Douglas Lute on July 7, saying that NATO could invoke Article 5 over a massive cyber attack.

“We must accept that Russia can be a competitor, adversary, peer or partner and probably all four at the same time,” Reuters quoted him as saying.”

New Times reported that James Appathurai, deputy assistant secretary general for political affairs and security policy as well as special representative on Central Asia and the Caucasus, said today that cyber attacks can cause as much potential damage as a conventional attack by land, air or sea.

New Times also noted that Amb. Lute didn’t mention the country “Russia” in his statements, but Russia is widely recognized as a source of many cyberattacks on Europe and the US.

In March 2016, Estonian intelligence accused Russia of making cyberattacks on its state institutions and attempting to infect the whole electronic network of the country. Recently Russian state hackers were identified as the cyberattackers behind the breach of the Democratic National Committee’s files. Russian hackers have also been said to pose as ISIS hackers in attacking the Syrian opposition and human rights groups.

New Times also reported about a new unified intelligence system called the Alliance Ground Surveillance (AGS), developed by Northrop Grumman with participation by the Italian Leonardo-Finmeccanica, tested two weeks ago in Germany and demonstrated for the first time at the NATO summit. It involves a multi-targeting drone called Global Home, the size of a passenger plane which will track “sudden” movements of forces among NATO’s neighbours and also warn of terrorist “creep” and “migration crises,” and will be deployed “not accidentally,” said New Times, in Sicily. As NATO experts said:



“The exchange of intelligence between countries was previously passive and limited. Now this gap will be filled, and at a fundamentally different technological level.”

New Times noted that while NATO speaks euphemistically of “multi-national” defense, in reality it comes down to four countries: the US, Canada, Germany and the UK. Secretary General Stoltenberg thanked these four countries separately for their “efforts in strengthening the eastern borders of NATO.”

Asked by New Times if this mission was entrusted to “the most seasoned” NATO members, an official laughed and said “no, it’s something else.”

“They have established logistics better than anyone else. Not over years but decades. If suddenly a decision has to be made about an emergency deployment of tactical weapons troops, for example Abrams tanks from a base in Germany to somewhere in Latvia, this could have a critical significance.”

Another NATO official told New Times that the four additional battalions in the Baltics and Poland would ensure the ability to have full-fledged tactical exercises “as often as needed.”

“You [in the sense of “Russia”–NT] have taken a fashion in the last two years of holding suddening exercises in the European theater. We decided not to lag behind you,” the official said “with sarcasm,” adding that “our [NATO] figures are always transparent and correct.”

Under the a past agreement of 2011, Russia and NATO are obliged to warn each other of military exercises if the divisions taking part in them have more than 9,000 troops. But the document has a loophole not covering snap exercises which Russia “abuses,” says the NATO official. NATO believes that under cover of exercises, Russia is secretly increasing its group of forces on the Western borders.