NATO does not want an “open war with Russia”, said today the Secretary General of the Alliance Jens Stoltenberg from Antalya, Turkey.
“We have a responsibility to prevent this conflict from spreading beyond Ukraine’s borders and turning it into an open war between Russia and NATO,” Stoltenberg added on the sidelines of a diplomatic forum hosted by Ankara.
At the same time, the NATO Secretary General justified the Alliance’s refusal to impose an air blockade zone over Ukraine to protect civilians from Russian bombing.
Such a measure “would mean that we are ready to shoot down Russian aircraft”, he estimated “and it is very likely that it would lead us to an open war”.
Stoltenberg is scheduled to hold talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan a day after Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met for the first time with his Ukrainian counterpart Dmitry Kuleba after the start of the Russian invasion.
NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen has called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to “put an end to this absurd war” and find “a political solution.”
“The first step would be to create humanitarian corridors from which people can leave and humanitarian aid to enter Ukraine,” Stoltenberg said.
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