NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg warned Thursday that “it is dangerous to underestimate Russia” and that the organization’s member states have to invest even more in the defense area.
“It is dangerous to underestimate Russia,” Stoltenberg said in the first speech of the year at the Norwegian Entrepreneurship Confederation’s Annual Conference in Oslo.
The Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization added that since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, NATO member states have increased investment in the defense area, but it has not been enough.
“We need to invest even more in defense. This has been NATO’s message for a long time. You have heard me say it countless times. Now I think we can all understand why we need more powerful defense, modern equipment and well… soldiers. ready,” he added.
If Vladimir Putin wins the war in Ukraine, Jens Stoltenberg warned, “it will be a tragedy for the Ukrainians, but it will also be dangerous” for the countries that make up the alliance.
“The message [que a NATO transmitirá] for him [Putin] and for other authoritarian regimes it is that the use of military force will get them what they want. This will make us more vulnerable,” he said.
And what kyiv can “achieve at the negotiating table depends on how strong they are on the battlefield,” he said.
“So if we want to negotiate a peaceful solution in which Ukraine survives as a democratic and independent country in Europe, the fastest way to achieve it is by supporting [militarmente] The Ukraine Arms are, in fact, the path to peace,” he argued.
And “regardless of how this war ends,” countries “have to accept that the security situation in Europe has changed permanently,” he recommended.
Source: TSF
