A successful counter-offensive by Ukraine could lead Russian President Vladimir Putin “to sit down at the negotiating table,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on CNN television on Tuesday.
“The more ground they gain [os ucranianos]the more likely it is that President Putin will understand that he must sit down at the negotiating table and agree to a just and lasting peace.”said the NATO leader, who should be received on Tuesday by the president of the United States, Joe Biden.
This meeting takes place a few weeks before the annual NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, theoretically the last to be attended by Jens Stoltenberg, whose mandate expires in the fall.
“I am absolutely convinced that (the 31 NATO member states) will find an excellent successor”said the Norwegian, assuring his current priority [é] lead the alliance to the end of the [seu] mandate”.
There is much speculation about who will succeed Jens Stoltenberg, whether he will extend his term, whether the first female Danish Prime Minister, Mette Frederiksen, will be named, or whether British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace will be a choice, albeit otherwise.
Recently, Joe Biden said that Ben Wallace was “highly qualified” but that a “consensus” would have to be found within NATO, an organization sometimes fraught with tensions, as evidenced by Sweden’s complicated accession process.
For thirteen months, Ankara has blocked Sweden’s entry into the Atlantic Alliance and criticized Turkey and Sweden for hosting Kurdish militants on their territory.
Jens Stoltenberg assured that despite everything he is “very confident” and underlined Sweden’s efforts to reach an agreement with Turkey.
On Monday, Sweden announced the extradition to Turkey of a militant from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) who had been convicted in the country for drug trafficking, fulfilling a condition Ankara had set for the Nordic country to join NATO.
Source: DN
