BRUSSELS, June 24 (EFE)- NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said this Friday, “It is up to Ukraine what kind of peace deal it wishes to accept with Russia and on what terms.”
In an interview with Efe on the occasion of the NATO summit to be held in Madrid from Tuesday to Thursday next week, Stoltenberg said, “NATO’s duty is to support Ukraine.”
Regarding the Russian invasion, he said, “We have a moral and political responsibility to support (the country) and defend the right of self-defense to protect its territory and sovereignty.”
“Most wars – and most likely this one too – end at a negotiating table, but we also know that what happens at the negotiating table is very dependent on the situation on the battlefield,” Stoltenberg said.
Therefore, he stressed that “Ukraine will decide what kind of peace agreement it wishes to accept and under what conditions”.
“When we support it with weapons and military equipment (Ukraine), we strengthen its position at the negotiating table,” he said.
“It’s not for me, it’s not for NATO, it’s not for every NATO member to decide what kind of commitments Ukraine can and cannot make. This is with Ukraine, with the Ukrainian people. Our responsibility is to help them. As far as possible, in the defense of its own country and its own sovereignty. location,” he said.
According to Stoltenberg, “every nation has the right to choose its own path”. He called Russia’s stance “unacceptable”, not only preventing Ukraine from joining NATO at all costs, but also directly rejecting the eastward expansion of the military alliance and demanding the withdrawal of its troops and infrastructure.
This approach is unacceptable because it “violates the principles contained in the Final Act of the (Conference on Security and Cooperation) in Helsinki and many other documents signed by Russia” and is based on the principle that “every nation has a right”. “He chose his own path, including the type of security deals or alliances he wanted to be a part of, and that’s why (Russian, Vladimir) President Putin disagrees and uses force against Ukraine.”
source: Noticias
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