Russia's war against Ukraine is an attack on the world order, so the aggressor cannot be allowed to win, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said. According to him, in the war of Russia against Ukraine, the Alliance has two tasks: to support Ukraine and prevent a direct clash between NATO and Russia, to prevent the spread of war.
“NATO is a community where the basic idea is that an attack on one country is an attack on all. Its goal is not to provoke a war. The goal is to prevent war. This is more important now than ever in a more dangerous world, with a war in Europe where Russia has attacked Ukraine,” he said..
According to him, Russia has challenged the world order.
“In the end, the war was provoked by him (Russian President Vladimir Putin - ed.. ) demanding Russian control over Ukraine and attempts to prevent NATO expansion. He does not respect Ukraine's desire to become part of our community or the sovereign decisions of other countries to apply for NATO membership,"
He stressed that “in this conflict (the war of the Russian Federation against Ukraine - ed.. ) NATO has two tasks”. The first is to support Ukraine and prevent a full-scale war between the Alliance and Russia.
NATO Secretary General stressed that the Alliance supports Ukraine's right to self-defense and recalled the great courage of the Ukrainian people.
“We have a moral obligation to support them. We are seeing hostilities, attacks on civilians and destruction that has not been seen since World War II,” Stoltenberg said..
He stressed that it is in the interests of the Alliance that Putin does not succeed in his ambitions for Ukraine..
“If Russia wins this war, she will have proof that violence works.”. Then other neighboring countries may be next,” the Secretary General added..
“What we are seeing now is a brutal and bloody war of attrition.. The advance of the Russians stopped again. And the Ukrainians have shown the ability to strike back and return territories, they are planning a counteroffensive in the south,” Stoltenberg said..
According to him, the second task of NATO is to prevent the spread of war..
“We do this also by the fact that we are not a party to the war - we do not send our troops to Ukraine. We also do this by clearly demonstrating that an attack on a NATO country will trigger an Alliance-wide response.. Therefore, we are building up our military presence on the eastern flank,” Stoltenberg stressed..
He also recalled that at the summit in Madrid in June, the Alliance decided on a large-scale strengthening of defense.
“President Putin also believed that through military force he would reduce NATO at the Russian border..
His stated goals and demands on NATO are that we must withdraw our forces, remove all military infrastructure, and not accept more member states.. He achieved the opposite,” Stoltenberg said, recalling Finland and Sweden, which will soon become full members of the Alliance.
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Earlier, the NATO Secretary General warned that the West should be ready to support Ukraine for a long time and advised to stop complaining..
He urged to remember that the price paid by the EU and NATO can be measured in money.. The price that Ukrainians pay is measured in lives.