There should be no doubt about NATO’s resolve to defend all its allies in the region, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Monday sending a clear message to Moscow that it’ll face consequences if it use military force against Ukraine again.
In light of Russian amassing of heavy military equipment, tanks and combat-ready troops near Ukraine, Stoltenberg pointed before a NATO foreign ministers in Riga there are reasons to be concerned but nevertheless noted the first task is to prevent that from happening when asked what would NATO do if Russia invades or launched an assault on Ukraine.
Asked about the possible consequences Russia could face for the NATO chief pointed, without elaborating, towards economic, financial and diplomatic means.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel also warned recently that that potential Russian aggression against Ukraine should definitely lead to measures from the EU, which must always be ready to enact more sanctions if the situation in/ around eastern Ukraine or on the Belarus-Poland border escalates.
Speaking of Belarus-Poland border and migrant crisis, Stoltenberg underlined there’s almost no doubt among EU and NATO diplomats in Brussels that the migrant crisis at the EU’s borders was deliberately stoked by Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko, with the Kremlin’s backing.
He believes that the border crisis is a mere smokescreen Kremlin could be using to prepare military action against Ukraine, arguing that Russia has already done such thing in 2014 when they occupied Crimea.
Stoltenberg said that on top of destabilizing eastern Ukraine and the Donbas and the launching of several cyberattacks and hybrid activities against Ukraine, Russia is now using a very aggressive rhetoric.
Pointing to NATO’s combat-ready battlegroups in Poland and the Baltic states and increased defence spending, Stoltenberg explained that the increased presence of NATO military in the eastern part of the Alliance is a direct consequence of Russia’s use of force against Ukraine.
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