‘Turning point in history’: Stoltenberg called the day of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine his worst day

At the same time, NATO Secretary General still believes in dialogue with Russia

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has described February 24, 2022, as his worst day in office – the day of Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine.

“I was not surprised, because we knew from the secret services what was going to happen. But the fact that it actually happened still shocked me. I realized that this is a turning point in our history: there is a Europe before this day and another Europe after,” he said in an interview with the German newspaper FAZ .

At the same time, Stoltenberg assured that the Alliance did everything possible to diplomatically dissuade Russia from a large-scale invasion of Ukraine.

“The war did not start in 2022, but in 2014, with Russia’s seizure of Crimea and part of Donbas. After that, the situation remained unchanged for a long time, despite almost daily fighting. But in the spring of 2021, suddenly there was a significant presence of Russian troops near the border with Ukraine. We were not sure what this meant. In the summer, some troops were withdrawn again. Many then believed that these were just exercises, as the Russians themselves said. However, in the fall, we received more detailed intelligence reports about Russia’s capabilities and intentions to attack Ukraine again,” he noted.

The NATO Secretary General admitted that, despite futile efforts to dissuade Russia, he still believes in dialogue, but “in combination with defense and deterrence”:

“We must be strong to have a meaningful dialogue. Of course, there is much less room for this now, almost none, compared to 2014. One of my first major projects as Secretary General was to reactivate the Russia-NATO Council, which had not met for a long time. One thing is clear: to end this war, at some point it is necessary to start a dialogue with Russia again. But it must be based on the strength of Ukraine.”

(c)UNIAN 2024