NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has stated that, the alliance is prepared to shield itself from any danger emanating from “Moscow or Minsk,” and that it has recently expanded its military presence on its eastern borders, after Minsk embraced leader of the Wagner rebels, Yevgeny Prigozhin.
“It’s too early to make any final judgments about the consequences of the fact that, Prigozhin has moved to Belarus, and most likely some of his forces will also be located in Belarus.”
Jens Stoltenberg, Secretary-General of NATO.
“What is absolutely clear is that, we have sent a clear message to Moscow and Minsk that, NATO is there to protect every ally and every inch of NATO territory,” he said, following a conference of eight leaders in the bloc in The Hague.
However, in an effort to safeguard all members, particularly those that borders Belarus, Stoltenberg predicted that, NATO would agree to bolster its defenses at a crucial summit of all 31 members of the bloc, during the July 11 summit in Vilnius, Lithuania.
“We have already increased our military presence in the eastern part of the alliance and we will make further decisions to further strengthen our collective defense with more high-readiness forces and more capabilities at the upcoming summit.”
Jens Stoltenberg, Secretary-General of NATO.
In response to Moscow’s aggression in Ukraine, NATO deployed international forces to Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria. This follows, after four additional NATO ships stationed in 2017 in the three Baltic nations and Poland, expanding alliance’s operations from the Baltics to the Black Sea. Germany has also declared that, it is prepared to station troops continuously in Lithuania if necessary.
Moreover, during the press briefing, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda raised concerns of the risk of having Wagner mercenaries stationed in Belarus. “If Wagner deploys its serial killers in Belarus, all neighboring countries face even greater danger of instability,” Nauseda said.
Also, Polish President Andrzej Duda said, “this is really serious and very concerning, and we have to make very strong decisions. It requires a very, very tough answer of NATO.”
Following his biggest significant challenge to the Presidency in over two decades of rule, Vladimir has described Wagner leader as a traitor who wanted to staged an armed mutiny against his leadership.
Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin has evacuated to Belarus, after agreeing to a deal brokered by Alexander Lukachenko, to halt the March to Moscow, from Rostov-on-Don. Putin stated that Wagner’s forces would also be given the option of relocating back to Russia.
Despite the commotion over the weekend, that probably caused divides to widen, Stoltenberg emphasized that, the west “must not underestimate Russia.” He asserted that, continuing to defend Ukraine in the face of Russian aggression was essential and that NATO partners will work out a plan for Kyiv to join the organization.
Additionally, the dinner’s host, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, dismissed Putin’s assertions that, the West wanted Russians to kill one other.
“I refute what Putin suggested yesterday that we in the west want Russia to descend into domestic chaos. On the contrary, instability in Russia creates instability in Europe.” .
Mark Rutte, Prime Minister of The Netherland.
In a desperate attempt to get Sweden to support NATO at the July conference in Lithuania, Stoltenberg also announced that, he would convene a crucial meeting in the next few days in order to address Turkish opposition to Sweden entering the military alliance.
For NATO to grow bigger all members must ratify the plan unanimously. However, Turkey has accused Sweden of being overly accommodating toward organizations that Ankara believes constitute a security risk, among them is an extremist Kurdish groups and individuals linked to the 2016 failed coup effort.
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