Nato ships ordered into Aegean Sea to tackle migrant smugglers

The Nato Maritime Group is being ordered immediately into the Aegean Sea to help end smuggling of migrants between Turkey and Greece, the secretary general said.

Jens Stoltenberg said the warships, now under German command, are being tasked to conduct reconnaissance and surveillance to help end Europe’s gravest migrant crisis since the Second World War.

US air force general Philip Breedlove, Nato’s supreme European commander, has ordered Nato Standing Maritime Group 2 deployed to the Aegean “without delay”, Mr Stoltenberg said.

Ships “will start to move now”, he added.