The NATO Secretary General calls on Belarus to end its “complicit” relationship with Russia, stressing that “Putin must keep in mind that he cannot win” against Ukraine.
Follow our live blog about the War here
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Wednesday called on Belarus to end its “complicity” in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“Belarus continues to receive and support Russian forces and is deepening its political and military integration with Russia. We call on Belarus to end its complicity in the war.”declared the former Social Democratic Prime Minister of Norway.
Stoltenberg made this appeal during a joint press conference with the President of Poland, Andrzej Duda, with whom he met this Wednesday at the NATO headquarters in Brussels.
The Secretary General of the Atlantic Alliance acknowledged that Russian President Vladimir Putin “does not show signs” of preparing for peace, but instead “is launching new offensives and targeting civilian targets, cities and critical infrastructure.”
“Putin must remember that he cannot win. To that end, we must continue to rapidly provide Ukraine with the weapons and ammunition it needs to retake territory and prevail as a sovereign nation in Europe,” he said.
Stoltenberg also thanked the invitation to participate next week, in Warsaw, in the summit of the leaders of the Bucharest Nine (a group of countries from the former eastern bloc that make up the Atlantic Alliance and which brings together the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary , Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Slovakia).
“The summit will send a strong message of unity and determination of the Alliance”, he assured.
For his part, the Polish president said his country is waiting for new security plans for NATO’s eastern flank, both for Poland and for the Baltic countries and southern eastern states.
He assured that these plans must imply that, if any NATO country on the eastern flank is attacked, the Alliance will “react immediately invoking article 5”, according to which an attack against a member of the organization is equivalent to an aggression against all member countries.
“We would like to secure as much NATO equipment as possible. We would like to have this weapon stored there, in case of any attack, so that it is available to NATO forces stationed in that area or deployed in that area. It is obvious that if the infrastructure is there, on the ground, then it is possible to deploy forces more quickly,” Duda said.
Regarding the expenses in the Defense sector, the Head of State indicated that by 2023 Poland (a country bordering Ukraine) plans to allocate 4% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to military investment.
Regarding support for Ukraine, Andrzej Duda noted that “Challenger” tanks will be sent to Kiev, as well as tanks from Canada, and combat vehicles from Poland and tanks and additional infrastructure from Germany will also be delivered.
“We are talking about state-of-the-art tanks, Leopard 2 A6 tanks,” he said, without giving details of delivery dates.
The Russian military offensive on Ukrainian territory, launched on February 24 last year, plunged Europe into what is considered the most serious security crisis since World War II (1939-1945).
Source: Observadora
