The Atlantic Alliance rejects sending a peace mission to Ukraine, as Poland suggested, because it would imply the entry of troops into the country
“If they attack one ally, they attack us all.” This phrase can be read at the entrance of the NATO headquarters in Brussels and was repeated on Wednesday by its Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg. The greatest threat now lies to the east, which is why the allied states have agreed to reinforce their military presence in the Baltic countries to send a clear message to Moscow. “We are not trying to provoke a large-scale conflict, but to avoid it,” he insisted.
NATO defense ministers decided on Wednesday that the alliance must adjust to the “new world order” that has resulted from the Russian invasion of Ukraine and strengthen all its fronts: land, sea, air and space. Since 2014, when Russia took over the Crimean peninsula, the alliance has tripled its presence in the Baltic states. Hundreds of thousands of troops now remain on “high alert,” in addition to another 100,000 US troops and hundreds of ships and planes. “We will begin a round of contacts with the military commanders and, based on their recommendations, we will make a political decision at the June summit,” Stoltenberg said on Wednesday.
The objective is clear: to shield the alliance against a possible attack by Moscow. For this reason, NATO asks the allies to reinforce their investment in Defense, as countries like Germany and Denmark have already done, so that they approach 2% of GDP. “We must increase our air force and missile defense, as well as increase the number of combat ships and submarines at our bases.”
Unity around the Western response is vitally important. “Putin wanted to divide us, but he has achieved the opposite,” Stoltenberg said. The allies maintain their clear support for kyiv, sending arms and economic aid, and want to extend it to Georgia. “The threat is there and we must act. We did it in the Ukraine, before the war started, but it is inevitable to think that we could have done more.
Despite backing kyiv, the alliance refuses to intervene directly on the ground. “We try to prevent the war from spreading to other territories and sending troops or planes would cause precisely that,” said its secretary general. It is for this reason that NATO refuses to declare a no-fly zone and for which it rejected this Wednesday the creation of a peace mission to travel to Ukraine, as proposed by Poland.
One week before the extraordinary summit to which US President Joe Bide will attend, the alliance sees no progress in the negotiations. However, they believe that support for kyiv “is essential” to strengthen its position in the dialogue with Moscow, highly influenced by the situation on the front.
NATO insists that Putin must lay down his arms “immediately” and go to the negotiations “in good faith”, but the situation on the ground points to the opposite. Also the threats of possible nuclear attacks in Ukraine or other European countries. “We must not underestimate Putin’s destructive capacity.”
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