confirmed NATO Secretary GeneralJens Stoltenberg, Thursday, that NATO will respond collectively if the Russian President contemplates aggression against any country in the alliance.
In a speech in his native Norwegian, he also said that the war in Ukraine was the most dangerous moment in Europe since World War II and that Russia should not be allowed to win this war.
He added, “It may become the duty of the alliance and its countries to continue to support Ukraine with weapons and other aid for a long time to come in order to prevent Moscow’s success,” adding, “It is in our interest that this type of aggressive policy fails,” according to what “Archyde.com” reported.
Attack on the world order
He described what Moscow says is a “special military operation” as an attack on the current world order, and said the coalition must prevent the spread of war.
He continued, “This is the most dangerous situation in Europe since World War II… If President Vladimir Putin thinks, just think, of doing something similar to a member state of the alliance as he did in Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine, the alliance will intervene immediately.”
Russian threat
This, and Russian President Vladimir Putin said last week that Moscow would respond in kind if NATO established infrastructure in Finland and Sweden after their accession to NATO.
The Kremlin leader also said that he does not rule out that his country’s relations with Helsinki and Stockholm will be strained due to their accession to NATO, according to Russian news agencies.
US Senate approval
This comes as the US Senate approved, on Wednesday, the accession of Sweden and Finland to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), a step aimed at strengthening the military alliance after the start of the Russian operation in Ukraine.
Thus, the United States becomes the 23rd country out of 30 members of the alliance that officially approves the accession of Sweden and Finland, after Italy had given its consent earlier Wednesday and France on Tuesday, according to Agence France-Presse.
Sweden, Finland, NATO (iStock)
If all current NATO members are approved, Finland will join Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland as NATO countries that share a land border with Russia.
In the event of Sweden and Finland joining NATO, Article 5 of the organization’s founding treaty would dictate that any Russian attack on either country would be considered an attack against all member states.