Carter & Fallon Announce More Aid to Ukraine

U.K. Defense Minister Michael Fallon was U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter’s first guest at the Pentagon, yesterday afternoon, and Carter’s first bilateral meeting with a counterpart since he assumed his present post. During their joint press conference, they both gushed over the “special relationship,” with Fallon stating that the relationship is “like no other, reflecting shared determination to face those risks together,” whether they be Russia’s (alleged) violations of international norms, the brutality of ISIS or Assad in Syria, the danger of a nuclear-armed Iran, or agreement on defense spending.

During his opening remarks, Carter confirmed statements made earlier in the day by the Obama Administration that the U.S. would provide an additional $75 million in nonlethal military assistance, plus 200 humvees, to Ukraine. That assistance includes reconnaissance drones, radios, counter-mortar radars, medical and other supplies. Carter and Fallon agreed that U.S.-U.K. “leadership” is vital to facing down the Russian “threat.”

The British input into the discussion can be surmised from looking at the official statement by Fallon’s counterpart, Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond, at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) on March 10, and Fallon’s on previous statements. Hammond designated Russia as the “single greatest threat to our security,” whereas Fallon had expressed his view during February that Russia represented a “real and present danger” in the Baltics, which he thought Putin might try to destabilize.