Sweden’s NATO accession was proof that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s Ukraine conflict technique to weaken the army alliance has “failed,” NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg stated Monday.
The Kremlin’s invasion not solely prompted previously non-aligned nations Sweden and Finland to return below NATO’s protection umbrella, however now “Ukraine is closer to NATO membership than ever before,” Stoltenberg stated.
His feedback, made subsequent to Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, got here simply earlier than Sweden’s flag was to be run up a flagpole exterior NATO’s Brussels headquarters in a ceremony sealing Sweden turning into the alliance’s thirty second member nation.
“When President Putin launched his full-scale invasion two years ago, he wanted less NATO and more control over his neighbors. He wanted to destroy Ukraine as a sovereign state, but he failed,” Stoltenberg stated.
“NATO is bigger and stronger,” he stated.
Stoltenberg added that he “didn’t expect” to see Finland and Sweden be part of throughout his time because the alliance’s secretary basic.
“Of course, this changed totally with the full-scale invasion of Ukraine and since then things really moved very quickly.”
Finland joined NATO final yr, swiftly after making use of.
Sweden’s adhesion took longer because it labored to satisfy some situations laid out by NATO member Türkiye earlier than Hungary held up the method. But Ankara in January and Budapest final week lastly gave their formal assent.
Kristersson stated Sweden now “will share burdens, responsibilities – and risks – with our allies.”
“The security situation in our region has not been this serious since the Second World War, and Russia will stay a threat to Euro-Atlantic security for a foreseeable future,” he stated.
For Russians, Putin has framed his 2022 all-out invasion of Ukraine as a defensive “military operation” in opposition to an increasing NATO.
The members of the U.S.-led alliance have lent their army and monetary help to Kyiv in its fightback. But momentum is slowing as U.S. political will fractures and Europe struggles to satisfy Ukraine’s ammunition wants.
Stoltenberg stated {that a} negotiated peace was attainable for Ukraine – however provided that Putin pulls his forces again.
“President Putin started this war and he could end it today. But Ukraine does not have this option. Surrender is not peace,” the NATO chief stated.
“We must continue to strengthen Ukraine to show President Putin that he will not get what he wants on the battlefield, but must sit down and negotiate a solution.”
On Ukraine or different nations wanting to affix the alliance, Stoltenberg stated that “NATO’s door is open.”
“It’s not for Russia to decide which path different European countries want to choose,” he stated.
Source: www.dailysabah.com