Yes, the Born could have done more to arm Ukraine in an attempt to prevent Russian invasion in 2022. Two and a half years after the beginning of the war between Moscow and Kiev, the Atlantic Alliance admits some guilt. In an interview with the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ), the Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg He stressed that the Atlantic group of states should have made greater efforts to avoid resorting to weapons, focusing on diplomacy and containing Vladimir Putin’s aims, also considering what has happened in the region in recent years.
On the day of the new prisoner exchange between the two countries – 103 were freed from each side, in an agreement mediated by the United Arab Emirates – Stoltenberg stressed that at the end of the conflict between Moscow and Kiev “there must be a dialogue with Russia”, but there must be no doubt about one point: Zelensky’s country must have “a strong position”. Words shared and relaunched by Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani: “Peace must be a just peace, which guarantees the independence of Ukraine and not the surrender of the country”.
Expected for his new role as chairman of the Munich Security Conference, Stoltenberg said that the worst day of his ten-year mandate as head of NATO was February 24, 2022, the day of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, recalling that the war did not begin at that time but already eight years earlier, in 2014, with theannexation of Crimea. The NATO secretary stressed that if Kiev had been stronger militarily, Moscow would have opted for caution. “Our training and equipment were quite limited, we could have done much more,” he stressed.
- How Russia Went From NATO Friend to Rogue State
Stoltenberg’s words come just hours after yet another threat of Putin. In a television interview broadcast by the Kremlin’s Telegram channel, the Russian president said that if Western countries give Kiev permission to use long-range missiles against Russian territory, “this will mean that NATO countries, the US and European countries, are at war with Russia”: “In this case, taking into account the change in the very essence of this conflict, we will make appropriate decisions based on the threats addressed to us”.
Rumors and leaks about NATO behavior have already emerged in recent months, with fears of a frontal attack. According to German Defense Minister Boris Pistorio, this scenario could occur in five to eight years. One thing is certain: the war continues to drag on without being able to hypothesize an end. And the mind goes back to the signals missed, just think of Putin’s Munich speech at the 2007 global security conference, where he asked for less NATO on the borders. The Atlantic Alliance’s reaction? To intensify relations with Georgia, Kazakhstan and Ukraine. Now come Stoltenberg’s words. Two and a half years after the start, or rather the resumption, of hostilities.
Franco Lodige, September 15, 2024
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The article Ukraine, Stoltenberg now admits: “NATO could have done more to prevent war” comes from Nicola Porro.