Belgium

Oct 17 (Reuters) - Several European Union foreign ministers on Monday called for sanctions against Iran over the transfer of Iranian drones to Russia, as the bloc agreed a separate set of asset freezes and travel bans over Tehran's crackdown on protests.

The sanctions and threat of more will pile pressure on Iran's rulers who have struggled to contain demonstrations sparked by the death in police custody of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman who was detained for "inappropriate attire".

BRUSSELS, Oct 14 (Reuters) - NATO said on Friday it would launch its annual nuclear exercise "Steadfast Noon" on Monday, with up to 60 aircraft taking part in training flights over Belgium, the North Sea and Britain to practise the use of U.S. nuclear bombs based in Europe.

The nuclear drills - which do not involve live bombs - are taking place amid heightened tensions after Russia repeatedly threatened nuclear strikes in Ukraine following major military setbacks on the battlefield there.

14 October 2022; MEMO: European foreign ministers will, on Monday, discuss the transfer of Iranian drones to Russia and could come to a political agreement on future sanctions related to such activity, two diplomats said on Friday, Reuters reports.

Ukraine has reported a spate of Russian attacks using Iranian-made Shahed-136 drones in recent weeks. Iran denies supplying the drones to Russia, while the Kremlin has not commented.

BRUSSELS, Oct 14 (Reuters) - NATO said on Friday it would launch its annual nuclear exercise "Steadfast Noon" on Monday, with up to 60 aircraft taking part in training flights over Belgium, the North Sea and Britain to practise the use of U.S. nuclear bombs based in Europe.

The nuclear drills - which do not involve live bombs - are taking place amid heightened tensions after Russia repeatedly threatened nuclear strikes in Ukraine following major military setbacks on the battlefield there.

BRUSSELS, Oct 13 (Reuters) - With Russia expected to soon carry out large-scale drills of its nuclear forces as President Vladimir Putin threatens to use them, the United States and its allies will be challenged to ensure they can spot the difference between exercises and the real thing.

Russia typically holds major annual nuclear exercises around this time of year, and U.S. and Western officials expect them perhaps in just days. They will likely include the test launch of ballistic missiles, U.S. officials say.

BRUSSELS, October 13. /TASS/: The West will give a powerful response to Russia’s allegedly possible use of nuclear weapons against Ukraine, but that response won’t be nuclear, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell said on Thursday.

"It has to be clear that any nuclear attack against Ukraine will create an answer. Not a nuclear answer, but such a powerful answer from the military side that the Russian army would be annihilated," he said in a speech at the European Diplomatic Academy in Bruges.

BRUSSELS, Oct 13 (Reuters) - NATO will closely monitor Russia's upcoming nuclear exercise but not be cowed into dropping support for Ukraine by Moscow's veiled nuclear threats, the alliance's chief said on Thursday.

"We will not be intimidated," NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters after a two-day meeting of the alliance's defence ministers. "Russia's nuclear rhetoric is dangerous, reckless, and they know that if they use (a) nuclear weapon against Ukraine, it will have severe consequences."

BRUSSELS, Oct 12 (Reuters) - A Russian nuclear strike would change the course of the conflict and almost certainly provoke a "physical response" from Ukraine's allies and potentially from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, a senior NATO official said on Wednesday.

Any use of nuclear weapons by Moscow would have "unprecedented consequences" for Russia, the official said on the eve of a closed-door meeting of NATO's nuclear planning group on Thursday.

BRUSSELS, October 11. /TASS/: The defense ministers of NATO member states will make decisions to increase ammunition stockpiles at a meeting on October 12-13, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said at a press conference on Tuesday.

"At this ministerial, we will take decisions to increase our stockpiles of munitions and equipment," he pointed out.

According to Stoltenberg, the NATO Defense Planning Process will be used to provide the industry with information about the long-term demand that it needs to boost production.

BRUSSELS, October 11. /TASS/: Russia’s victory in the conflict in Ukraine would be a defeat for NATO, the alliance must not allow such an outcome, the organization’s Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Tuesday at a press conference ahead of the meetings of NATO Defence Ministers on October 12-13 in Brussels.