“They are withdrawing from the outskirts of Kharkov and their offensive in Donbas is paralyzed. Russia is not achieving its strategic objectives,” he said.
The NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberghas indicated that the military organization is considering increasing its presence in the Baltic region and even deploying troops in Sweden and Finland, to guarantee the security of the two Scandinavian countries since they apply for NATO membership.
In full debate on the accession of Sweden and Finland to NATOand the doubts about the months of ratification in which the mutual defense clause could not be invoked, leaving them unprotected against reprisals from Russia, Stoltenberg has said that the allies are “aware” of this concern and work to give security guarantees to the two candidates.
“There will be an interim time between application and full membership. It is clear that Sweden and Finland’s membership matters to NATO and we will seek ways to provide security guarantees, including increasing NATO’s presence in the Baltic and within and around Sweden and Finland, of course in consultation with them,” he said.
For all these reasons, the NATO political chief has announced that he is prepared to hold talks with both candidates to discuss this interim period to increase the military presence in the region “by land, sea and air”, in addition to increasing cooperation before cyber threats.
In any case, the former Norwegian Prime Minister has defended that the allies are committed to a rapid process and have already promised to speed up the ratification process, ensuring that “all members” of NATO are aware of “the historical magnitude” of the step that Helsinki and Stockholm are going to take.
He sees a possible victory: “It’s not going as Moscow expected”
Furthermore, Stoltenberg stressed at the press conference that “Ukraine can win this war.” “Russia’s war in Ukraine is not going as planned by Moscow. They have failed to take kyiv. They are withdrawing from the outskirts of Kharkiv and their offensive in Donbas is at a standstill. Russia is not achieving its strategic goals,” he said.
Stoltenberg has cited thus the “courageous” defense of the Ukrainian troops and aid from allies “in the billions of dollars.” All this means “reinforcing NATO’s defensive deterrence capacity”, he stressed.
For her part, the host of the meeting, the German Foreign Minister, Annalena Baerbocl, has indicated that Germany “will do everything” so that there is no “gray area” on the way to Sweden and Finland to the military alliance, which supposes a vulnerability of both Scandinavian nations.
Possible blockade of Turkey
In this way, Stoltenberg has also responded to the misgivings expressed by Turkey, which threatens to block the entry of Sweden and Finland, alleging links between the two countries and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), considered a terrorist organization by Ankara.
The secretary general has affirmed, after maintaining different contacts, that Turkey’s intention “is not to block” the entry process of Helsinki and Stockholm, and in any case has been open to addressing their concerns with the Turkish authorities, “so that it cannot delay the process”.
“We have shown that we can sit down and find a consensus“, he pointed out, pointing out that his plan is to soon forge the unit that allows the express entry of Finland and Sweden into the Atlantic Alliance.
On the margins of the meeting in Berlin, the Turkish Foreign Minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, has defended his support in principle for NATO’s open-door policy, although he has emphasized the allegations that both countries provide aid to the PKK.
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“It is not that we oppose the expansion of NATO, but people who meet with terrorists cannot belong here, and we continue to maintain it that way,” argued the Turkish minister, while also mentioning the country’s limitations on military exports. .
NATO foreign ministers have met this Saturday and Sunday in Berlin at an informal summit in which they discussed how to continue coordinating military support for Ukraine in the face of Russian aggression, with the debate on the accession of Sweden and Finland in full swing.