BERLIN: NATO could have done more to arm Ukraine to try to prevent Russia’s invasion in 2022, the outgoing head of the Western military alliance said in an interview released on Saturday.
“Now we provide military stuff to a war — then we could have provided military stuff to prevent the war,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told German weekly newspaper FAS.
Stoltenberg pointed to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s reluctance to provide weapons that Kyiv had asked for before Russia’s full-scale invasion because of fears that tensions with Russia would escalate.
After the war began, Kyiv, which is not a member of NATO, received one weapons system after another from its allies after initial hesitation.
Stoltenberg, a former prime minister of Norway, will step down in October from his role at NATO, which he has held since 2014. Dutch former Prime Minister Mark Rutte was announced in June as the organization’s next boss.
In the interview, Stoltenberg said an end to the war in Ukraine would be achieved only at the negotiating table.
“To end this war there will have to be again dialogue with Russia at a certain stage. But it has to be based on Ukrainian strength,” he said.
Stoltenberg declined to confirm that he would take over from German diplomat Christoph Heusgen as chair of the Munich Security Conference after leaving NATO. He told FAS he had “many options” and would reside in Oslo.
Stoltenberg says NATO could have done more to prevent Ukraine war, FAS reports
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Stoltenberg says NATO could have done more to prevent Ukraine war, FAS reports
- Kyiv, which is not a member of NATO, received one weapons system after another from its allies after initial hesitation
Trump says “it will be done” on getting “Russian threat” away from Greenland
US President Donald Trump said on Sunday that Denmark has not been able to do anything to get the “Russian threat” away from Greenland, and said, “Now it is time, and it will be done!!!“
“NATO has been telling Denmark, for 20 years, that “you have to get Russian threat away from Greenland.” Unfortunately, Denmark has been unable to do anything about it,” Trump wrote in a post on the social media website he owns called Truth Social.
The White House, the Danish Presidency in the European Union, and Denmark’s foreign affairs ministry did not immediately respond to a Reuters’ request for comment.
Trump has repeatedly insisted he will settle for nothing less than ownership of Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark.
Leaders of both Denmark and Greenland have insisted the island is not for sale and does not want to be part of the United States.
Trump on Saturday vowed to implement a wave of increasing tariffs on European allies until the United States is allowed to buy Greenland.
The encroaching presence of China and Russia makes Greenland vital to US security interests, Trump has said. Danish and other European officials have pointed out that Greenland is already covered by NATO’s collective security pact.
