The head of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) said the alliance implemented the biggest reinforcement to its collective defence in a generation.
Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg spoke after a meeting with Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas who said that NATO’s defences are much stronger than they were a year ago.
NATO’s response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has meant the alliance stands ready to defend its eastern front.
Stoltenberg said that since the annexation of Crimea by Russia in 2014, NATO dramatically boosted its collective defence. Kallas said the security of the Baltic states, which border Russia, has been significantly improved since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Kallas says, “We are ready to defend the territories from the first minute, from the first centimetre.”
“I’m pretty sure that we’ve moved from the situation where we were a year ago by the good decisions that we made in Madrid and also the execution of those plans and now going further with those plans as well,” he added.
Kallas also said that Finland’s recent membership of NATO has been a game changer for the Baltic peninsula, saying it means that were an attack to happen, reinforcements could be shipped from the north through Finland.
NATO leaders will meet in nearby Vilnius in just under two weeks to sign off on a new plan for the alliance’s collective defence.
The so-called regional plans are designed to detail how NATO would respond to an attack on one of its members. They represent a priority shift for the alliance having previously focused on conflicts further afield, it will now focus on bolstering its collective defence at home.
The war in Ukraine has meant NATO has found a new purpose: adapting its defence for an uncertain world.
Growing calls for NATO to ensure Ukraine is soon admitted to the group
Expansion of NATO
Meanwhile Russian ambassador to South Africa, Ilya Igorevich Rogachev says the war in Ukraine is a result of the expansion of NATO.
Rogachev has also called out countries that say they are neutral in this war. South Africa has been criticised for refusing to pick a side. He says in the war there is no neutrality.
“I do not think that in the modern world there is a place called neutrality for a very simple reason is the eleventh package of sanctions against Russia which is basically not in Russia but to those who do not comply with sanctions imposed against Russia. So you can not remain neutral,” Rogachev says.
However Norwegian ambassador Gjermund Saether to South Africa says Russia can not use NATO as a reason for invading Ukraine.
Saether says, “The problem for Russia is not really NATO. The problem is democracy. They don’t have democracy inside the country because the leadership doesn’t allow it. No freedom, no democracy but they also want to prevent other countries and the neighbours from having democracy…”
“NATO never had a plan to expand, they want to keep their independence, they want to stay free. They want self determination and they feel threatened and they apply for NATO membership because that can give them certainty.”
Role of NATO in Russia-Ukraine war:
Additional reporting by – Alex Cadier
