Steph Deschamps / February 15, 2022
Moscow has expressed interest in continuing the dialogue, but we have not yet seen any signs of de-escalation, said the Secretary General of the Atlantic Alliance Jens Stoltenberg. The defense ministers will meet on Wednesday and Thursday. The issue of tensions with Russia will be central.
Allied defense ministers are also expected to meet with their Ukrainian and Georgian counterparts. Everything is in place to counter a possible attack, according to the Nato chief, who stressed that troops had been transferred from the Baltic Sea region to the Black Sea region. Any aggression against Ukraine will have a high price. However, he stressed the importance of finding a peaceful and political solution.
Russian diplomatic chief Sergei Lavrov recently announced that Moscow had made proposals to Nato and the United States, but the secretary general of the transatlantic alliance said he had not yet received them. Ukraine is a partner that we will continue to support and we will defend all allied countries in case of Russian aggression, Stoltenberg added. The allies will also meet with their Finnish and Swedish counterparts and representatives of the European Union. They will also discuss the issue of defense spending, which must increase further, according to Mr. Stoltenberg.