Stoltenberg: Europe may eventually rebuild ties with "Russian bear"

Former NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Europe may eventually rebuild relations with Russia, but stressed that any future dialogue should be based on strong defence and credible deterrence.

In an interview with TVP World Documentaries, Stoltenberg said that as long as Moscow has a regime similar to the current one, Europe needs to remain strong and continue investing in defence.

“But at some stage we also need to have dialogue again based on strength because Russia is our neighbour,” he said.

Stoltenberg stressed that Europe should eventually seek to re-establish “some kind of architecture of arms control”, warning that an uncontrolled arms race would be both expensive and dangerous.

According to Stoltenberg, the conditions for such dialogue were not currently in place because of the war in Ukraine, but added that Europe should be prepared to resume talks with Russia when the circumstances allow.

“It's not given by nature that it has to be a bad relationship between Russia and Europe,” Stoltenberg said, pointing to the Nordic countries as an example of former rivals that had become close friends.

He said relations with Russia could remain poor for a long period, but argued that a future improvement was possible.

“We need strong defence to deal with the Russian bear, but it is possible at some stage to be friends with them,” he added.

By Aghakazim Guliyev