Latest North Atlantic Treaty Organization News

In this photo taken from undated footage distributed by Russian Defense Ministry Press Service, an intercontinental ballistic missile lifts off from a truck-mounted launcher somewhere in Russia. The Russian military said the Avangard hypersonic weapon entered combat duty. Little on the Pentagon’s drawing board illustrates more clearly the Trump administration’s worry about China and Russia than its work on hypersonic weapons. These missiles and aerial vehicles fly at speeds of a mile a second or faster and maneuver in ways that make them extra difficult to detect and destroy in flight. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)

Russian general chafes at "provocative" NATO drills

Jun. 1, 2020 10:05 AM EDT

MOSCOW (AP) — The Russian military on Monday accused the U.S. and its NATO allies of conducting “provocative” military drills near the nation's borders, a statement that reflected simmering Russia-NATO tensions. Col.-Gen. Sergei Rudskoi of the Russian General Staff said Russia has sent a...

FILE - In this Jan. 17, 2020, file, photo, Libyan Gen. Khalifa Hifter joins a meeting with the Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias in Athens. The U.S. military Tuesday, May 26, 2020 accused Russia of deploying fighter planes to conflict-stricken Libya to support Russian mercenaries aiding east-based forces in their offensive on the capital, Tripoli. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis, File)

US: Russian jets in Libya present broader worries for region

May. 29, 2020 3:58 PM EDT

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. Africa Command flatly rejected Russian claims that Moscow did not deploy fighter jets to Libya, saying Friday that the 14 aircraft flown in reflect Russia's longer term goal to establish a foothold in the region that could threaten NATO allies. Brig. Gen. Gregory Hadfield, deputy...

FILE - In this Friday, Jan. 17, 2020 file photo, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov listens for a journalist's question during his annual roundup news conference in Moscow, Russia. Top diplomats from Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany discussed ways on Thursday April 30, 2020, to advance peace process for eastern Ukraine, but failed to achieve any tangible progress. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File)

Russia says US leaving overflight treaty will hurt security

May. 26, 2020 1:59 PM EDT

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia said Tuesday that the U.S. decision to withdraw from an international treaty allowing observation flights over military facilities would erode global security by making it more difficult for governments to interpret the intentions of other nations. President Donald Trump last week...

FILE - In this March 9, 2020, file photo, Washington's peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad attends the inauguration ceremony for Afghan President Ashraf Ghani at the presidential palace in Kabul, Afghanistan. Khalilzad said May 7 that he called for the release of Mark R. Frerichs, ab American citizen captured by Taliban-linked militants in discussions with Taliban leadership as continued violence threatens to scuttle a peace deal to end America’s longest-running war. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul, File)

Taliban, Ghani declare three-day cease fire for Eid holiday

May. 23, 2020 11:36 PM EDT

ISLAMABAD (AP) — The Taliban and Afghanistan's president announced late Saturday a three-day cease-fire ahead of a major Islamic holiday that begins Sunday to mark the end of the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan. The Taliban order, which was soon followed by an announcement via Twitter from Afghan...

FILE - In this June 28, 2019, file photo, President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin walk to participate in a group photo at the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan. The Trump administration is notifying international partners that it is pulling out of a treaty that permits 30-plus nations to conduct unarmed, observation flights over each other’s territory — overflights set up decades ago to promote trust and avert conflict. The administration says it wants out of the Open Skies Treaty because Russia is violating the pact and imagery collected during the flights can be obtained quickly at less cost from U.S. or commercial satellites. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)

EU urges US to reconsider military overflight treaty pullout

May. 22, 2020 2:31 PM EDT

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union on Friday urged the United States to reconsider its plan to withdraw from a military treaty allowing observation flights over more than 30 countries, as NATO insisted that Russia has long flouted its commitments under the agreement. President Donald Trump said Thursday...

Russian army officers wearing face masks to protect against coronavirus walk in St.Petersburg, Russia, Tuesday, May 19, 2020. Russia has continued to see a steady rise of new infections, and new hot spots have emerged across the vast country of 147-million people that ranks the second in the world behind the United States in the number of coronavirus cases. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)

Russia says it scales down war games amid pandemic

May. 19, 2020 11:35 AM EDT

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia's foreign minister said Tuesday that Moscow has scaled down its military drills amid the coronavirus pandemic. Sergey Lavrov said that the Russian military also has decided not to conduct any war games near the country's borders with NATO member nations during the outbreak. Russia-West...

Afghan security forces inspect the site of a bomb explosion in Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday, May 18, 2020. A suicide bomber in a stolen military Humvee targeted a base in eastern Afghanistan belonging to the country's intelligence service early on Monday, killing many members of the force. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)

Taliban suicide bomber kills 9 troops in eastern Afghanistan

May. 18, 2020 8:27 AM EDT

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A suicide bomber in a stolen military Humvee targeted a base in eastern Afghanistan belonging to the country's intelligence service early on Monday, killing at least nine members of the force, Afghan officials said. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack. At least 40...

Newborn babies lie in their beds at the Ataturk Children's Hospital a day after they were rescued from a deadly attack on another maternity hospital, in Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, May 13, 2020. Militants stormed the Barchi National Maternity Hospital in the western part of Kabul on Tuesday, setting off an hours-long shootout with the police and killing tens of people, including two newborn babies, their mothers and an unspecified number of nurses, Afghan officials said. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)

US blames brutal attack on Afghan maternity hospital on IS

May. 15, 2020 11:39 AM EDT

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A U.S. official said Friday he is convinced the Islamic State affiliate in Afghanistan carried out this week’s horrific attack on a maternity hospital in a majority Shiite Muslim neighborhood in Kabul, killing 24 people, including newborn babies and mothers. Peace envoy...

FILE - In this Feb. 29, 2020 file photo, U.S. peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad, left, and Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Taliban group's top political leader shake hands after signing a peace agreement between Taliban and U.S. officials in Doha, Qatar. An Afghan official said Thursday, May 14, 2020, that a suicide attack in eastern Afghanistan targeted a military compound but was detonated before it reached the compound killing several civilians and wounding tens of others. The Taliban took responsibility for the bombing calling it retaliation for statements Tuesday by President Ashraf Ghani blaming Taliban for a brutal attack on a maternity hospital that killed tens of people, an attack that the Taliban were quick to condemn. (AP Photo/Hussein Sayed, File)

Official says suicide attack in eastern Afghanistan kills 5

May. 14, 2020 7:03 AM EDT

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A suicide bombing in Afghanistan’s eastern Paktia province on Thursday that looked to target a military compound but exploded before its destination killed five civilians and wounded at least 29 others, including civilians and military personnel, Afghan officials said. The...

In this Monday, May 4, 2020 photo, Halil Hasani displays four photos of his missing sons from right to left Fadil, 32, Gazmend , 24, Armend, 20, and Hasan, 15, taken by Serb forces during the Kosovo war over two decades ago, as he sits in the porch of his house in the village of Qabra. Hasani is convinced his four sons are alive and imprisoned somewhere in Serbia more than two decades after police and paramilitary forces took them from a village in Kosovo. At the time, an armed uprising by ethnic Albanian separatists had led to a bloody Serb crackdown, an international crisis and a NATO bombing campaign in Kosovo, then a Serbian province. (AP Photo/Visar Kryeziu)

Kosovo families seek answers 21 years after Serb conflict

May. 14, 2020 3:34 AM EDT

CABER, Kosovo (AP) — Halil Hasani is convinced his four sons are alive and imprisoned somewhere in Serbia more than two decades after police and paramilitary forces took them from a village in Kosovo. At the time, an armed uprising by ethnic Albanian separatists had led to a bloody Serb crackdown, an...

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