Portugal has military force ready for NATO deterrence missions

  • Lusa
  • 24 February 2022

António Costa revealed that Portugal has a military force that will be made available for deterrence missions.

The Prime Minister said on Thursday that Portugal has a military force that will be made available for deterrence missions, if that is the decision of the North Atlantic Council but ruled out a NATO intervention in Ukraine.

António Costa was speaking at a press conference after a meeting with the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Augusto Santos Silva, of Defence, João Gomes Cravinho, and with the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces, Admiral Silva Ribeiro.

This meeting was intended to prepare the High Council of National Defence, called by the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, for 12h00 pm.

The prime minister signalled that the North Atlantic Council is meeting at ambassadorial level and will define “what is the measure of commitment of deterrence forces that NATO will adopt to protect all the member countries of the Atlantic Alliance that have a border with Ukraine or are in the whole of a vast region stretching from Iceland to Turkey.”

“As is known, Portugal is part of NATO’s rapid reaction forces this year and in that framework, we have a set of forces that are available, and ready at five days, so that, if that is the decision of the North Atlantic Council, they can be placed under NATO command to carry out these deterrence missions,” he said.

However, immediately afterwards, António Costa stressed that “NATO will not intervene or act in Ukraine”.

“And the position that NATO will have and in which the Portuguese forces may be engaged are deterrence missions, in particular with the NATO countries that border Ukraine”.