NATO defense ministers failed on Friday to agree on new plans for how the alliance would respond to the Russian attack, with one diplomat accusing Turkey of blocking consensus, but there is still a chance to reach a consensus before the Vilnius summit, News.ro reported, citing Reuters.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said ministers discussed the plans – the first since the end of the Cold War to be triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – at a two-day meeting in Brussels. According to Stoltenberg, the allies are close to an agreement on these plans.

The diplomat said Turkey had blocked approval of the plans, objecting to the geographical location, including Cyprus.

There is still an opportunity to find a solution before the NATO summit in Vilnius in mid-July, the diplomat added.

Turkey’s diplomatic mission to NATO said it would be inappropriate to comment on the secret NATO document, adding only that “the normal process of consultation and assessment between the allies is ongoing.”

The so-called regional plans contain thousands of pages of secret military plans detailing how the alliance would respond to a Russian attack.

The preparation of these documents means drastic changes. For decades, NATO saw no need for large-scale defense plans because it fought smaller wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and was confident that post-Soviet Russia no longer posed an existential threat.

But with Ukraine’s bloodiest war since 1945 raging beyond its borders, the alliance is now warning that it must have all the plans in place well in advance of a potential conflict with an equal adversary such as Moscow.

NATO will also provide guidance to nations on how to modernize their forces and logistics.

“Although the regional plans were not formally approved today, we expect these plans to be part of a series of outcomes from the Vilnius summit in July,” a senior US official told Reuters. (News.ro)