The Vilnius summit will deliver important decisions for NATO, says the alliance’s Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in an interview with LRT. He says he invited Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky to come to the meeting.
What decisions can we expect from NATO’s summit in Vilnius this July?
The Vilnius summit will be a very important summit. And I would like to thank Lithuania for hosting such an important event.
What we have seen over the last year is that NATO has significantly increased its presence in the eastern part of the alliance, also in the Baltic region, with battlegroups. with more troops and forces and backed by significant air and naval power.
We will always do what is necessary to ensure we have credible deterrence and defence that will send a clear message to Moscow: that we are here to protect and defend all allies and an attack on one ally will trigger a response from the whole alliance.
We do this, of course, not to provoke a conflict, but to prevent a conflict, to prevent an attack on an allied country.
In addition to the increased presence, the most important thing we are now doing – and in Vilnius, we will agree on new plans and also a new model for our forces and increases in defence spending – is to ensure that we have the readiness and forces in place to quickly reinforce if needed.
We have already increased [NATO’s presence on the Eastern flank], we are constantly looking at what more we should do. But the most important thing is to have significant high readiness forces that can be quickly deployed if needed.
Do you believe that the Vilnius summit will be an historic event, a crucial point for NATO?
Yes, the Vilnius summit will be a very important summit.
And I spoke with President Nausėda in Warsaw [last week], where we both participated in the meeting with President Biden and the B9 Group, the allies of the eastern flank, and we have started the preparations.
I think that the Vilnius summit will be important because it will demonstrate our unity in providing support to Ukraine and hopefully will also agree on new steps and new measures in supporting Ukraine for the long term and building a partnership with NATO.
We need to strengthen defence. I expect our allies to agree on new plans, but also a new role for our forces and further increasing defence investments.
No decisions have been taken, but I think we should not regard 2 percent of GDP as a ceiling for what we spend, we should regard 2 percent as a floor, as a minimum for what we spend on defence.
Will President Zelensky be present at the summit in Vilnius and what will be the meaning of his presence?
I invited President Zelensky to attend the NATO summit in Vilnius. I believe that will be a strong expression of our solidarity, of support. I hope that he can be there. But, of course, this will depend on the situation in Ukraine, they are in the midst of a full-fledged war.
I'm afraid that the only language that President Putin understands is our unity and our strength. And that's the reason why we need to stand together.
President Putin made two big strategic mistakes when he invaded Ukraine. He totally underestimated the Ukrainians, the courage and determination of the Ukrainian people, the Ukrainian armed forces and the Ukrainian leadership.
But he also underestimated the resolve and determination of NATO’s allies and partners to support Ukraine. Lithuania is among those countries that are providing significant support to Ukraine. Compared to your GDP, Lithuania is really among the top allies in terms of support for Ukraine.
We do this to send a message to President Putin that he will not win on the battlefield. He has to sit down and recognise Ukraine as a sovereign, independent nation and then leave Ukraine. President Putin started the war, President Putin will end the war by withdrawing his troops.
What does NATO intelligence say about how big this new Russian offensive will be?
We are already seeing new offensive operations by Russia, especially around Bakhmut, with fierce fighting, heavy casualties, and Russia is throwing waves of soldiers against the Ukrainian defence lines in a way we haven’t seen since the First World War.
And we also see that Russia is constantly planning for new offensives, mobilising more troops, acquiring more weapons, ramping up production, sending in more ammunition, more weapons, and also reaching out to other authoritarian regimes, like Iran and North Korea.
Do you see any differences between Russia and Belarus?
Russia and Belarus are more and more integrated but we haven’t seen the full-fledged unification of the two countries.
What we also see is that Belarus has been a platform to support Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, and the invasion was also launched from Belarus. Many of the invaders came from Belarusian territory a year ago, and Belarus territories continue to be a launching platform for air and missile strikes against Ukraine. We see more and more integration between the Russian and the Belarusian forces.
If China starts supplying arms to Russia, what response would be needed?
So far, we haven’t seen any deliveries of lethal aid from China to Russia. But we have seen some signs that they may be considering, may be planning for that.
The message from NATO is that China should not do it. It will only escalate the situation further. And, of course, China should not support the illegal war of Russia against Ukraine. China is a member of the UN Security Council, and it should not violate the core principles enshrined in the UN Charter of respecting a neighbour.
The alliance and you yourself have stressed that Ukraine must return to internationally recognised borders. Does it mean that Ukraine has to take back Crimea by force?
At the end of the day, it’s absolutely likely that this war will end at the negotiating table. And then it will be for the Ukrainians to decide both the conditions for negotiations and what they can accept.
Our task is to support Ukraine because we know that what happens at the negotiating table is inextricably linked to the strength on the battlefield. So, if we really want a negotiated peaceful solution to the war in Ukraine, then the best way of achieving that is to provide military support for Ukraine. And then it has to be Ukraine that decides what conditions are acceptable.
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