If Ukraine ends hostilities, “it will cease to exist as an independent state,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said at a joint press conference with US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken in Brussels.
The head of the alliance is confident that “peace will come if Russia stops hostilities.”
During his speech, the official urged Western countries to prepare for a long standoff with Russia. He stated that the partners should help Kiev with weapons, even in a way that harms its own defensive capabilities.
Stoltenberg believes it is important to maintain “military, financial and humanitarian support.”
“Our unity and solidarity will be tested in the coming months. It is under pressure from energy supply and rising prices. However, the price we pay is calculated with money, and the price paid by Ukrainians is calculated with lives,” he said.
He added that the military-political bloc “significantly strengthened its presence in the eastern part of the alliance”. Thus, the West is sending Moscow “a clear signal that NATO will defend every inch of Allied territory.”
Earlier, the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, expressed his goal of supporting Ukraine: “To help Ukraine end the war, because we want this war to end as soon as possible. But not in any way. We want this war to end while respecting Ukraine’s sovereignty.”
view of Moscow
Although Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin assures that “NATO is not seeking conflict with Russia”, Moscow does not believe this and believes that “an indirect conflict increases the risk of a direct confrontation between Russia and the alliance”. This was stated earlier by the Permanent Representative of Russia to the UN, Vasily Nebenzya.
At the meeting of the UN Security Council on September 8, he once again emphasized that the supply of weapons to Kiev from the West will not fundamentally change the situation on the battlefield.
“The new weapon will not be able to change the balance of power, but it will be able to prolong the suffering of the Zelensky regime and delay its glorious end,” Nebenzya said.
The State Duma believes that the completion of the special operation could lead to a split in NATO.
“Categorically, Stoltenberg is not interested in the future and present of Ukraine. “The EU’s claims against NATO are already huge and if NATO can’t deal with Russia now, then a split is inevitable,” he said.
Crimean leader Sergei Aksyonov had previously suggested that after the special operation, Ukraine would cease to exist within its former borders.
“Ukraine will no longer stay within the borders of 1991, whatever you call it, probably a complete liquidation of the Ukrainian state,” he said on the broadcast of the Millet channel.
Aksyonov believes that “after the surrender of the Ukrainian authorities” NATO countries “will circulate what remains.” “Of course they will not abandon their aggressive policies,” the official said.
“I am sure that in the remaining regions they will try to create a hostile enclave for Russia, try to strengthen the borders of these regions as much as possible and continue to create problems, destabilize the situation, influence the course. adaptation of liberated regions,” he says.
The head of the Crimean peninsula noted that this would mean the passage of “only the first stage of Ukraine’s disarmament.” Then there will be “political processes in which it will be necessary to follow us closely and work to ensure that a new enemy in a more serious guise does not grow on our side”.