The North Atlantic Alliance is here, it is vigilant and ready to defend every inch of Allied territory, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Tuesday in an intervention at the Aspen – GMF Bucharest Forum, which takes place in Bucharest, according to Agerpres.

The senior official is in Romania to chair the NATO foreign ministers’ meeting, which takes place on Tuesday and Wednesday at the Palace of Parliament.

The ministers of Foreign Affairs from NATO countries are meeting in Bucharest, while Russia’s war against Ukraine is taking place at the border with Romania and undermines the rules-based international order. It is a critical moment for our security and we are sending an important message: NATO is here, NATO is vigilant and is ready to defend every inch of Allied territory, Stoltenberg said.

He spoke about the increase of the military presence after the beginning of the war in Ukraine, respectively the doubling of the Allied fighting groups from two to four, one of them being in Romania.

NATO and the Allies are not part of the conflict in Ukraine, but in a manner without precedent, we provide support to Ukraine, because Ukraine is a nation that has the right to defend itself, as enshrined in the UN Charter, Jens Stoltenberg added.

According to the NATO Secretary General, „President Putin’s war of aggression is an echelon.”
And he responds with several brutal acts – we see waves of missile attacks launched intentionally on civilians and civilian infrastructure, which hit homes, hospitals and electricity networks, Stoltenberg assessed.

He added that there are complicated moments for everyone, but for Ukraine it is „terrible” what is happening.

But there are complicated moments for us in Europe too and for other countries in the world (…) It is true, we all pay the price for Russia’s war against Ukraine, but our price is in money, while the Ukrainians pay with blood. If we let Putin win, we will all pay a much higher price in the years to come, because Mr. Putin and other authoritarian leaders will learn then that they can achieve their goals using brute force. So they will be encouraged to use even more force in other times. This will make our world more dangerous and make us all more vulnerable, the NATO official stressed.

It is in our long-term security interest to support Ukraine, Stoltenberg reiterated.

Agerpres