Stoltenberg: Early Western support could have prevented Ukraine conflict

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has said that NATO could not but support the aspirations of Ukraine, Sweden and Finland to become members of the alliance.

“Of course, NATO could not say that we have closed the way to the alliance not only for Ukraine but also for Finland and Sweden. They (Russia) want us to stop any further expansion,” the former secretary-general said, commenting on Russian President Vladimir Putin's 2021 letter demanding that NATO not expand eastwards, Caliber.Az reports, citing foreign media.

Stoltenberg noted that the demands formulated in the letter were not a surprise to him, as Russia had laid them out before Putin's message.

The former secretary-general said that he also could not guarantee the cancellation of the presence of troops in the eastern part of the bloc, as this would mean “introducing something like first- and second-class NATO membership”.

Meanwhile, Stoltenberg said he believes that if the West had provided assistance to Ukraine after 2014, it could have prevented the conflict.

“If we had provided at least some of the weapons that we delivered after 2022, we might have actually prevented a military conflict,” he said.

According to him, the West can do much more for the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

By Khagan Isayev