Amidst the worsening tensions, Stoltenberg says NATO won’t mirror what Russia does

NATO will continue to build up its military capabilities. At the same time, it will employ a wide combination of different tools. It is aiming to counter Russian aggression. However, it does not aim to “mirror” the rival power. NATO’s approach to Russia is more based on the dual-track approach, defense, and dialogue, as Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg thinks.

He continued, “And that’s exactly what we do when we now have implemented the biggest reinforcements of our collective defense since the end of the Cold War, and will continue to strengthen our collective defense with high readiness, more troops, and increased investment in our defense.”

He further added that after years of cutting the defense budgets, all of their members are now investing more. Hence they will not mirror what Russia does. But they will respond more firmly and clearly. It will include a wide combination of different tools which they have demonstrated over the last years.

The comments are coming ahead of an anticipated summit between U.S President Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin in Geneva. They have followed Putin’s interview where the Russian leader said the U.S- Russian relationship had deteriorated much.

Stoltenberg also elaborated on the topic of nuclear weapons. He says, when it comes to land-based missiles, it is a consistent position of NATO for the several years since the demise of the INF Treaty. They are not planning to deploy a new land that is orienting on the land for nuclear-capable missiles.

The U.S, under the former president, withdrew from the Cold War-era treaty in 2019 after accusing Russia.

But they will make sure that they are responding to the new Russian military buildups, which include nuclear weapons. They have been doing that for many years in different ways, including the strengthening of air and missile defense. Also, they are pursuing arms control which is part of the dialogue with Russia.

Stoltenberg has also discussed the sanctions. The specters of the sanctions are large for Russia. These sanctions are important. At the same time, it will add more support to their close partners like Georgia and Ukraine.

The Biden administration has imposed a raft of new sanctions against Moscow over the colossal cyber-attack and many more.

Russia has already amassed a huge military buildup in the Arctic. It is developing a new superweapon. It is becoming a growing concern for Western officials. Biden says that Russia has some responsibility to deal with the hackers.

Credits: CNBC