Martin Banks interviews Olivier Védrine Chief Editor of the Russian Monitor about Russian President Vladimir Putin. He also speaks about the case of Alexei Anatolievich Navalny, a Russian politician and anti-corruption activist who came to international prominence by organising demonstrations, and running for office, to advocate reforms against corruption in Russia, Russian President Putin, and…
Except for Captain Tom Moore, who recently captured the nation’s hearts for his fundraising efforts at the height of the pandemic, the most famous living son of the Yorkshire town of Keighley (the area I represented in Parliament from 2017 -2019) is probably Alistair Campbell, writes John Grogan. Whilst working for Tony Blair as Director of…
Following his appointment by the EDA Steering Board on 5 March, Jiří Šedivý has officially taken over on 4 May as the Agency’s new Chief Executive for an initial 3-year mandate, extendable for two additional years. “It is a great honour and privilege for me to take up the position of Chief Executive of the…
Belgian jets assigned to NATO’s Baltic Air Policing mission intercepted Russian fighters as they conducted low passes over a US Navy destroyer on 17 April. The Belgian F-16 Fighting Falcon multirole fighters launched from Šiauliai Air Base in Lithuania, where the air policing mission is headquartered. They then intercepted the Russian aircraft – two Su-24…
Paul Taylor, Senior Fellow of Friends of Europe. The United States should wholeheartedly embrace EU initiatives to strengthen European and NATO defence capabilities and offer joint incentives for transatlantic industrial collaboration instead of niggling over the rules of the EU’s defence fund (EDF), a new report urges. The study by journalist and researcher Paul Taylor…
Defence ministers have shared their expectations and views ahead of the presentation of the first full Coordinated Annual Review on Defence (CARD) Report which will be delivered to the Steering Board in November 2020. Ministers took the opportunity to highlight their expectations and share success factors they deem important ahead of delivery of the first full…
The European Defence Agency (EDA) has for the first time been chosen to support the development of a PESCO project as an Agency initiative, in line with the PESCO commitment to use EDA as the European forum for project capability development. The Austrian-lead project, CBRN Surveillance as a Service (CBRN SaaS), will provide a rapidly…
The OCEAN2020 project, managed by a 42 partner consortium from 15 EU countries, has successfully launched its first sea demonstration in the Gulf of Taranto, Italy. The OCEAN2020 Live Sea Demonstration involves a total of 9 unmanned assets and six naval units from Italy, Spain, Greece and France. The deployment of manned and unmanned systems,…
Western nations need to build closer partnerships with the private sector to sharpen NATO and the European Union responses to hybrid security threats, participants at a unique day-long exercise concluded on Thursday. “Hybrid warfare is now real warfare,” Jamie Shea, Senior Fellow at Friends of Europe and former Deputy Assistant General at NATO. “This is an…
Italy has a central role to play in Europe’s response to growing security challenges in the Mediterranean region, but the current government’s “suicide diplomacy” is reducing its influence in the European Union and NATO just when it needs their support, according to a timely new report by Friends of Europe published this week. The study…
