Former NATO Secretary General Jens Stltenberg stated in an interview published by Politico on Oct. 9 that NATO allies should have done more in 2014 to arm Ukraine, preventing a full-scale Russian invasion in 2022.
Stoltenberg, who served as NATO Secretary General for 10 years, stepped down on October 1st. Former Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte is now the leader of the alliance.
Stoltenberg’s biggest regret at the end of his tenure was the insufficient response to the Russian aggression in 2014.
“I still believe that if Ukraine had been armed more after 2014, it might have prevented Russia‘s invasion — at least, we would have raised the threshold for an invasion on a full scale,” he told Politico.
Stoltenberg said that Russia’s war on Ukraine began not with the 2022 invasion, but with Russia illegally annexing Crimea and the Donbass war in 2014.
Stoltenberg stated that he had “worked hard to convince NATO allies of the need to do more. To provide more military assistance, more training.”
“Some allies did but it was limited and that was difficult for many years as NATO policy was that NATO should never provide lethal support to Ukraine.”
Stoltenberg speculated that a greater willingness and coordinated effort by member nations to send military assistance to Kyiv could have deterred Russia
He said that if we had delivered even a fraction of what we delivered after 2022 we could have prevented the war.
Stoltenberg said that there were “some similarities” between the red lines of NATO’s past and the restrictions some members have placed on what weapons they will send Ukraine, and how Ukraine can utilize them.
The debate about the use of long-range missiles by NATO to strike military targets within Russia reflects current divisions among NATO members on how to best support Ukraine’s defence.
Stoltenberg stated that “according to international law Ukraine has the right of self-defense and this includes the right strike legitimate military targets in the territory of Russia, the aggressor.”
“I welcome the fact that some allies do not have restrictions, but it must be within the boundaries of international law. Others have actually loosened restrictions on the use weapons.
Former NATO Secretary General Jens Stltenberg stated that “if we had delivered even a fraction of what we have delivered since 2022, we might have prevented the war.”
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