The remarks were made by the NATO Secretary General following informal talks in the Netherlands with Prime Minister Mark Rutte and the leaders of Denmark, Poland, Latvia, Romania, Portugal and Belgium, ahead of the Alliance summit in Madri. , at the end of the month.
NATO needs to be “even more prepared” and strengthen its arsenal on its eastern flank after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, North Atlantic Treaty Organization Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Tuesday.
The remarks were made by Stoltenberg following informal talks in the Netherlands with Prime Minister Mark Rutte and the leaders of Denmark, Poland, Latvia, Romania, Portugal and Belgium ahead of a NATO summit in Madrid in late .
Responding to yesterday’s call by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for more long-range weapons systems, Stoltenberg said he agreed that Kyiv should be reinforced with heavy weapons, but declined to go into further details.
“We share (the view) that it is crucial for Russia to lose this war,” Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte told reporters in The Hague. “Since we can not have a direct confrontation between NATO and Russian military forces, what we need to do is ensure that Ukraine can fight with access to all the necessary weapons systems.”
Asked about the prospects of Sweden and Finland joining NATO, Jens Stoltenberg said he was seeking – in the spirit of Alliance unity – to curb the reactions of Turkey, which appears angry at the support it says the two Scandinavian countries are offering. Sweden in particular – members of the PKK, which Ankara considers a “terrorist” organization.
NATO has stepped up its presence in the Baltic after Russian troops invaded Ukraine on February 24, which Moscow describes as a “special military operation.” Stoltenberg announced the decision to further strengthen the Alliance at the NATO summit on June 29 and 30 in the Spanish capital.
