NATO Chief Warns of Rising Risk of Direct Conflict with Russia over Ukraine
NATO Chief Warns of Rising Risk of Direct Conflict with Russia over Ukraine
muh
05/08/2022356
According to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, the "Kremlin’s actions" have tipped Europe into the most dangerous situation it’s faced since the Second World War.
“In this conflict, NATO has two tasks,” Stoltenberg said, Yahoo News reported.
“Support Ukraine, and prevent the conflict from spreading into a full-scale war between NATO and Russia," NATO Chief added.
“A world where the lesson for [Russian President Vladimir] Putin is that he gets what he wants by using military force is also a more dangerous world for us. If Russia wins this war, he will have confirmation that violence works. Then other neighboring countries may be next.”
Stoltenberg added that NATO is not a party to the war, and is not deploying troops to Ukraine, but said that the alliance is also demonstrating that any attack on a NATO country will trigger a response from the entire alliance.
Russia sent its troops to Ukraine in late February, following Kiev’s failure to implement the terms of the Minsk agreements, first signed in 2014, and Moscow’s eventual recognition of the Donbass republics of Donetsk and Lugansk. The German and French brokered Minsk Protocol was designed to give the breakaway regions special status within the Ukrainian state.
The Kremlin has since demanded that Ukraine officially declare itself a neutral country that will never join NATO. Kiev insists the Russian offensive was completely unprovoked and has denied claims it was planning to retake the two republics by force.