NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg warned on Thursday that a Russian chemical attack in Ukraine would “greatly change the nature” of the war being waged there and could also affect neighboring allied countries, without wanting to enter into whether it would cause a defense reaction from the Alliance.
“I will not speculate beyond the fact that NATO is always ready to defend, protect and react to any type of attack against an allied country,” Stoltenberg told the press upon his arrival at the extraordinary summit of Alliance leaders to address the crisis in Ukraine.
Stoltenberg said that he asked whether NATO would consider the use of chemical weapons in Ukraine an attack on any member of the organization.
“I will not speculate beyond saying the following: any use of chemical weapons would greatly change the nature of the conflict, would be a flagrant violation of international law and would have widespread and severe consequences.”
The Norwegian politician added that “the seriousness of the use of chemical weapons is of course even more obvious knowing that there is a risk of contamination as these chemicals expand to larger areas, and even reach NATO territory.”
At this summit, the allies hope to address further support for Ukraine, including the provision of equipment to protect against potential chemical, biological or even nuclear threats.
The Alliance is concerned about the possibility of the use of chemical or biological weapons in Ukraine following what it considers Moscow's “false claims” that Kiev was producing chemical weapons, which may be a way of creating “a pretext” for Russia to use such weapons.
In addition, as part of their immediate response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, NATO leaders today plan to give their approval to the declaration of four new multinational battalions that will be located in Hungary, Romania, Slovakia and Bulgaria and will join those already in Poland and the countries since 2017 Baltics. In the longer term, the Alliance is also preparing to review its deterrence and defense capabilities.
Stoltenberg also said that “more needs to be done and that, therefore, we need to invest more”.
“There is a new sense of urgency and I hope that leaders will agree to accelerate investment in defense to meet our commitment to investing more in defense,” he said.
Asked about the mental health of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Stoltenberg replied that the president has made “a big mistake, which is to launch a war against an independent and sovereign nation.”
“It has underestimated the strength of the Ukrainian population, the courage of the Ukrainian population and armed forces and, therefore, they are also encountering much more resistance than they expected,” he said.
Despite the support that NATO allies provide to Ukraine, the secretary-general reiterated that the transatlantic organization will not send troops or planes to the former Soviet republic because it has “the responsibility” that the conflict “does not escalate beyond Ukraine.”
“That would cause even more suffering, death and destruction,” he stressed, explaining that imposing the no-fly zone on Ukraine that Kiev calls for would mean “massive attacks on Russian air defense systems in Russia, Belarus and Ukraine, and also being prepared to shoot down Russian planes.”
On China, Russia's ally that maintains an ambiguous position on the war conflict, Stoltenberg urged Beijing to “join the rest of the world in clearly condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine and not to provide political support and, of course, no material support for the Russian invasion of Ukraine.”
Stoltenberg's term as general secretary ended in September, but the war in Ukraine has generated debate about whether he could stay in office longer. The politician said today that he will leave the decision on whether to extend his term to the thirty allies.
(With information from EFE)
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