 Slovenian army chief sacked after NATO test failure Ljubljana (AFP) Feb 22, 2018 - Slovenia's premier on Thursday gave the army chief of staff his marching orders after one of its key brigades failed a NATO combat readiness test after years of defence spending cuts. "Since the chief of staff has ultimate responsibility for the army's readiness, work and operational use of all units, the government has dismissed General Andrej Osterman," Miro Cerar said. Cerar told reporters he had given Defence Minister Andreja Katic a month to undertake the necessary measures to grant full combat readiness of the 72nd brigade. After coming close to needing a bailout following the global financial crisis, Slovenia slashed defence spending by a third between 2010 and 2017 to one percent of economic output. According to Katic, this will rise to 1.14 percent by 2024, still shy of the target set by NATO allies in 2014 of raising defence spending to two percent over a decade.
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US President Donald Trump will welcome his counterparts from the Baltic states in Washington on April 3 to discuss security and economic ties, the Estonian presidency said Thursday.
The presidents of fellow NATO members Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania -- Kersti Kaljulaid, Raimonds Vejonis and Dalia Grybauskaite -- last met with Trump in Warsaw last year.
"Our security cooperation is very good, and all four countries are contributing at least two percent of GDP to national defence in 2018," Estonian presidential advisor Lauri Kuusing said, according to Baltic news agency BNS.
The Baltic trio are among only eight NATO allies expected this year to meet the defence spending benchmark repeatedly insisted upon by Trump.
Grybauskaite's top foreign policy advisor said the Baltic leaders will discuss preparations for the Western defence alliance's next summit on July 11-12, where Lithuania expects decisions to strengthen air defence capabilities.
"It will be a good chance to discuss the NATO summit in Brussels and present our point of view," advisor Nerijus Aleksiejunas told AFP.
The three countries on NATO's eastern flank have been spooked by their Soviet-era master Russia's actions since Moscow annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014.
Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics said Thursday that the Baltic meeting with Trump is "proof of our strategic partnership".
All three Baltic foreign ministers will visit the US on March 5 to meet with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Rinkevics told reporters after a meeting with US Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan in Riga.
The US visit can be seen as a sign of how the Baltic states are now firmly anchored in the West, 100 years after declaring independence.
"This meeting on the 100th anniversary of our independence once again reaffirms the special bond and good cooperation between the Baltic countries and the United States," Kuusing said.
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