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| NATO to escort
shipping in Straits of Gibraltar |
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| On 4 February NATO decided that Alliance
naval forces will escort Allied commercial and civilian
naval vessels travelling through the Straits of Gibraltar.
The military authorities have now been ordered to plan the
operation, to begin as soon as possible.
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| Federal Republic
of Yugoslavia becomes Serbia and Montenegro |
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| On Tuesday, February 4, 2003, by an
act of parliament, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
voted to disband itself and establish the new state of
Serbia and Montenegro. The new country will be comprised
of two republics with the region of Kosovo part of the
Serbian Republic, administered by NATO and the United
Nations. |
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| Consultations on measures
to protect Turkey |
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NATO’s top decision-making body, the North Atlantic Council,
meets to consider a proposal to task the Alliance’s military
authorities to begin planning deterrent and defensive measures in
relation to a possible threat to Turkey.
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| Russia and NATO after the Rome Summit |
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The annual St Petersburg conference was held for the third
time, on 7-8 February, bringing together high-level participants
principally from Eastern and Northern Europe, as well as
from North America. The conference aimed to evaluate the
role of NATO and Russia in anti-terrorist operations and
focused on cooperation between NATO members and Russia in
the framework of the NATO-Russia Council "at 20",
created at the Rome Summit in May 2002.
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| NATO and Russia sign submarine rescue
agreement |
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NATO and Russia have signed a landmark agreement on mutual
help and co-operation in the area of submarine crew search
and rescue at sea.
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| Slovenian Prime Minister visits
NATO |
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The Prime Minister of Slovenia, Mr. Anton Rop, visited NATO
Headquarters on 10 February for talks with Secretary General
Lord Robertson.
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| Winter Academy 2003 |
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| This year's Winter Academy will focus
on "NATO and the new security system in Europe",
covering the historical, military, economic and political
dimensions of the subject.
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| Reserve officers hold 55th mid winter
conference |
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The Interallied Confederation of Reserve Officers (CIOR)
held its 55th mid winter conference at NATO HQ, 13-15 February.
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| KFOR’s Detention of Indicted
War Criminals : Haradin Bala (aka Shala), Isak Musliu (aka
Qerqiz) and Agim Murtezi (aka Murrizi) |
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KFOR has detained Haradin Bala (aka Shala), Isak Musliu
(aka Qerqiz) and Agim Murtezi (aka Murrizi), who are under
indictment for war crimes by the International Criminal
Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY). They were detained
in Kosovo and will be transferred to The Hague. There were
no casualties sustained in the course of these operations.
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| Lord Robertson visits Bulgaria |
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During a visit on 17 February Lord Robertson congratulated
Bulgaria on its invitation to join NATO and called on the
government to continue with reforms in key areas.
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| NATO to deploy defensive assistance
to Turkey |
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On 19 February, NATO’s top defence committee authorised
Alliance military authorities to deploy NATO AWACS aircraft,
as well as missile and chemical and biological defences
to Turkey.
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| Lord Robertson visits United States |
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NATO Secretary General travelled to Washington D.C. from
19 to 20 February to receive the Transatlantic Leadership
Award from the European Institute and to meet with top US
officials.
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| NATO AWACS to patrol skies over
Turkey |
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The Supreme Allied Commander Europe, General James L. Jones,
yesterday, 20 February, ordered the NATO Airborne Early
Warning and Control Force to deploy to Turkey with their
AWACS aircraft.
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| Dogfish 2003 - NATO's largest anti-submarine
warfare exercise |
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NATO's largest annual anti-submarine warfare exercise started
in the Ionian Sea on 20 February. Ten NATO countries are
providing submarines, maritime patrol aircraft, surface
ships and personnel for Dogfish 2003.
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| Disciplined Warrior 2003 |
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| A command post exercise called "Disciplined
Warrior" is taking place in Verona, Italy, from 24
February to 7 March. Discipline Warrior 2003 aims to improve
the capabilities of the Southern Region to carry out crisis
response operations, in particular, where peace support
operations are concerned. It is using modern simulation
techniques to replicate the flow of information and decision
making processes in a deployed military headquarters.
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| NATO AWACS on patrol in Turkey |
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Two NATO radar monitoring and surveillance aircraft (AWACS)
arrived at Konya airbase, Turkey, on 26 February and have
begun patrols of Turkish airspace. This is part of the deployment
of Alliance defensive assistance to Turkey agreed by NATO’s
Defence Planning Committee on 19 February 2003.
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| The threat of weapons of mass destruction |
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The threat of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and the
relevance for NATO-Ukraine cooperation was the theme of
a roundtable organised in Kyiv on 26 February.
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| Secretary General visits Lithuania,
Latvia and Romania |
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Lord Robertson continued his tour of the seven countries
currently engaged in accession talks to join NATO with
a visit to Lithuania and Latvia on 27-28 February, and
Romania on 3 March.
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