NATO Secretary General: Russia Biggest Threat for Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova

“Russia is ready to use force against its neighbors,” said Jens Stoltenberg, NATO Secretary General to Deutsche Welle, a German news broadcaster, about NATO’s defensive stance.

“Everything we do is defensive. We are protecting the allies.　Russia　is behaving aggressively. The annexation of Crimea is an aggressive behavior. Russia continues providing separatists in eastern Ukraine with modern weapons, anti-aircraft systems, sends troops there – this is an act of aggression. We protect our allies, Russia uses force to redraw the borders and destabilize Ukraine,” Stoltenberg said, according to　DW.

“Russia is ready to use force against Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova. Russia more often mentions nuclear weapons as part of its defense strategy,” Stoltenberg notes, adding that NATO is responding to new security challenges in a defensive way, which is proportionate and in line with the alliance’s international commitments.

“We have increased the preparedness and readiness of our forces. We have strengthened our military presence on the eastern borders of the alliance. We have decided to set up a network of smaller headquarters in the Baltic States, Bulgaria, Poland and Romania. We have also stepped up our air patrols and presence in the eastern countries of the alliance in response to Russia’s behavior,” he noted.

In addition, Moscow now has a better-equipped and better-prepared army, he added.

“What is more, they conduct unexpected maneuvers to conceal aggressive actions against its neighbors. That is how Crimea was annexed,” he added. Therefore, by addressing these threats, NATO has been strengthening its military capabilities, being unprecedented since the end of the Cold War, according to Stoltenberg.

Meanwhile, the Pentagon has released a new National Military Strategy, the first update to that document since 2011, saying the US is facing near-peer adversaries like Russia and China while simultaneously having to handle diffuse militant groups like the Islamic State.

“Since the last National Military Strategy was published in 2011, global disorder has significantly increased while some of our comparative military advantage has begun to erode,” Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey wrote in his introduction to the strategy document.

The strategy specifically calls out Russia among China, Iran and North Korea as aggressive threats to global peace. “Hybrid conflicts” — not just the Islamic State, but forces such as the Russian-backed rebels in Ukraine — are likely to expand” – reads the strategy.

Zviad Adzinbaia