Lack of assistance to Ukraine facilitated the invasion of the Russian Federation: Stoltenberg told about Merkel's mistake

According to the former Secretary General of the Alliance, even after the occupation of Crimea and the beginning of the war in the Donbass meetings in NATO -Russian format - Russia continued. The Alliance had no illusions about the Russian Federation, but it was necessary to manage a complex relationship with a neighbor.

The former NATO Secretary General Jens Stolteberg said that over the decades of work in office, according to him, the period of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 was the most difficult for him. Spiegel writes about it. "The attack was not a surprise. We knew in advance that Russia was planning an invasion, we tracked this training. But, yet a full -scale military invasion was shocking - to observe all suffering and destruction in Ukraine. It was a painful moment for all of us.

And I will never forget it, "Stoltenberg said. When asked whether the current time should be considered the most dangerous since World War II, he replied that today's world has become unstable and unpredictable. During the Cold War there was a confrontation with the USSR, the troops stood near the borders, nuclear weapons - on both sides of the iron curtain. "But still there was some predictability, because neither side wanted to go on the risk that the war would be hot.

Now we have so many challenges at the same time. We expect a full -scale war in Europe and face more and more global confrontation, for example With China, a country that increases its armed forces at unprecedented speed, "Stoltenberg added. According to the former Alliance Secretary General, Russia has been monitored for many years. "Putin became increasingly aggressive.

After the illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014, we began a large -scale strengthening of collective defense, increasing investments in defense, establishing the purpose of up to 2% of GDP for all members," he explained. Stoltenberg also added that for the first time since the Cold War patrol troops have been placed on the eastern border of the Alliance. NATO headed NATO in October 2014, some time after the capture of Crimea.

When asked by a German weekly about when he realized that the strategy of Angela Merkel, who tried to build bridges from the Russian Federation, was false, he replied that it was correct to build bridges from the Russian Federation after the Cold War. "Even after the Russian annexation of Crimea and the beginning of the Donbass war in NATO - Russia continued. We met at the end of January 2022.

Not because they had any illusions about Russia, but because it was necessary to manage relations with our neighbor, which turned into very complex, "he explained. In one of his recent interviews, Financial Times, the Alliance, the Alliance noted that it was a mistake not to start funding Ukraine earlier, as it could help prevent war. "It is easy to say in a retrospective about what to do. I think the lack of military support of Ukraine has eased the Russian invasion.