On Wednesday 24 March, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg stressed the “solid agreement” between the Allies and the Alliance’s partners - Sweden, Finland and the EU - on Russia, with which relations “remain very difficult”.
“Despite years of pressure and efforts to engage in constructive dialogue, Russia has increased its repressive behaviour at home and aggressive behaviour abroad”, he said at the end of the second day of the ministerial meeting.
“We will remain vigilant and continue to work with the EU and our close partners to ensure that we respond together to Russia’s actions”, the Secretary General warned.
On his arrival at the meeting, the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, said that “the unity of the European Union Member States must go beyond the EU, with (its) partners and NATO”. “We must continue to work within the framework of the five guiding principles to define the unity of Europeans and our NATO partners”, he said. According to Borrell, it is necessary to “contain Russia, to push it back when it violates international law, and it is very important to do this in our partnership with NATO”.
In the face of Russian measures, both internally and externally, “NATO’s response is firm and consistent”, Mr Stoltenberg said. He recalled that the Alliance had implemented the biggest collective defence build-up in a generation and intensified its hybrid and cyber defences. The Allies also believe that their deterrence and defence must be further reviewed and adapted.
“Our dual-track approach combines strong deterrence and defence with openness to dialogue”, the Secretary General also recalled, while the NATO-Russia Council has not met since the end of 2019, when Russia stopped responding to the Alliance’s invitations. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)