NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg holds a press briefing at NATO headquarters | DW News

The fake referendums were listening to NATO Secretary General Jens Stortenberg giving a

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conference. Let's listen in total violation of international law. This land grab is illegal and illegitimate. NATO allies do not and will not recognize any of this territory as part of what we call Russia. to all states to reject Russia's blatant attempts at territorial conquest these lands are Ukraine Donetsk is Ukraine Luhansk is Ukraine had some Eastern Ukraine is Ukraine just as Crimea is Ukraine this is the second time that Russia has taken Ukrainian territory by strength, but does not change the nature of the conflict.

This remains Russia's brutal war of aggression against Ukraine and does not change our commitment to supporting Ukraine. NATO is not a party to the conflict but we provide support to Ukraine so that it can defend its right to self-defense enshrined in the UN. Our Charter is a defensive Alliance We are united indefinitely to defend and protect every NATO ally and every inch of allied territory. This is a crucial moment. Putin has mobilized hundreds of thousands or more troops engaged in irresponsible nuclear saber rattling and is now illegally annexing more Ukrainian territory. Taken together, this represents the most serious escalation since the start of the war.

None of this shows strength, it shows weakness, it is an admission that the war is not going to be planned and that Putin has completely failed in his strategic objectives. Putin bears full responsibility for this war. and it is your responsibility to end it, to end the imminent suffering of the brave Ukrainian people, to end the energy and food crisis that is affecting so many people around the world, if Russia stops fighting there will be peace, if Ukraine stops fighting , will cease to exist. As an independent sovereign nation in Europe, NATO reaffirms our unwavering support for the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.

We remain determined to provide support to Ukraine as it continues to defend itself against Russian aggression for as long as necessary and with that I am ready to answer your questions and we will have time for just a couple of questions, we will start with the Ukrainian

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agency, thank you For example, the Ukrainian national

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agency Mitra, we in Ukraine have no doubt that we will prevail and liberate our territories but a few hours ago the Ukrainian leaders showed us the possible way out of this bloody war and officially applied to be members of NATO.

My question is whether NATO is ready to consider those types of applications and the second part of the question is whether it is possible to consider the rapid procedure for that type of membership as was done for Sweden and Finland. Thank you very much, all democracies in Europe have the right to apply for membership in NATO and NATO allies respect that right and we have stated again that the door to NATO remains open and we have demonstrated that in recent years, NATO allies NATO, when they met at the NATO Summit in Madrid, also stated very clearly that we support Ukraine's right to choose its own path to decide what kind of security arrangements it wants to be a part of.

So Of course, all third party allies must make a decision membership and we make these decisions by consensus. Our focus now is to provide immediate support to Ukraine to help Ukraine defend itself against the brutal Russian invasion and that is the main focus and the main objective. effort by NATO allies as we speak Associated Press Yes, Secretary General, the war appears to have taken on a new dimension today, with President Zielinski and President Putin taking some pretty big steps. I'm wondering now that President Putin has annexed these parts of Ukraine and threatened to use nuclear weapons as well, could you call for calm?

Would you advise President Zielinski to perhaps stay away from the region? How would NATO approach this also from outside? Thank you, we ask President Putin to end the dock. he is responsible for starting the war and he has the responsibility for ending the war because if Russia stops fighting there will be peace, if Zelensky and the Ukrainians stop fighting Ukraine will cease to exist as independence, so if we don't talk about the same Likewise, we have a Russia that is the aggressor and we have a country that is a victim of aggression, Ukraine, and that is also the reason why we support Ukraine so clearly.

Illegal annexations of Ukrainian territory do not change the nature of this war and there could be a technical problem. There is also a very strange coincidence. We are listening to the head of NATO, Mr. Stoltenberg, who has now returned and I wonder if we can return to that because we have the combination of the mobilization in Russia. with the dangerous and reckless nuclear rhetoric and then today's illegal annexation or attempt to annex part of Ukraine, this is the most serious escalation of the conflict since the beginning and President Putin's goal is to dissuade us from supporting Ukraine, but he does not will achieve. that the message from NATO allies and partners is that we will continue to support.

The United States just announced more support today and I also spoke to all the leaders over the last few days and naturally they all have the same message that we need. To stay united we need to extend support to Ukraine because, of course, this is in Ukraine's interest and that we help them defend themselves, but it is also in our interest that we guarantee that President Putin does not win, because if he wins the messages that authoritarian powers like Russia can use military force and then achieve their objectives and that will make the whole world more dangerous thank you Florian neuhan cfgmtv Mr.

Stoltenberg two questions, if you allow me, the first, returning to my colleague's question about the nuclear doctrine of Russia Once again, would you encourage them to ask the Ukrainian military to actually attack those annexed regions and thereby perhaps also provoke a nuclear escalation, since many people around the world and especially in Europe fear an escalation? nuclear war and the second question you just asked? Today I spoke with Chancellor Schultz and I assume he also discussed the attacks on the pipelines, what the response of NATO and Germany might be. A greater military presence in the Baltic Sea, for example, would be one response you consider.

Thank you. Ukraine has, of course, the right to retake Ukrainian territory that is now occupied by Russian forces, that is why we support them so that they can defend themselves but also so that they can continue to liberate territory and, as I said, the illegal annexation or the attempt to annex Ukrainian territory does not change that, it does not change the nature of this conflict because if we accept that the annexation by Russia and the rattling of nuclear sabers are actually the third also of support for Ukraine, then we accept blackmail nuclear weapons and then accept that by threatening to use nuclear weapons, authoritarian powers like Russia can achieve exactly what they want: take control of a neighboring Ukraine and then deter us from supporting Ukraine in its absolute sovereign right to defend itself against aggression, a right that is actually enshrined in the United Nations Charter in President Putin's nuclear policies.

It's dangerous, it's reckless. NATO, of course, is vigilant, we closely monitor what Russia does. Russia must understand that nuclear war can never be won and should never be fought and that there will be serious consequences for Russia if they use nuclear weapons and this has been conveyed very clearly to Russia so we will continue to support Ukraine and we will continue to support them in their efforts. to liberate even more territory because they have the right to do so. So on the pipelines, yes, I talked to results today. Of course, we addressed the sabotage against North Stream One and North Frame Two.

This is very serious. Large explosions that destroy two oil pipelines. We also support ongoing investigative efforts to reveal the facts and determine who. was behind these attacks um NATO and NATO allies are present with naval capabilities where aircraft in the Baltic Sea in the North Sea and of course this sends a message from the allies and NATO Readiness to protect and defend themselves mutually also critical infrastructure these allies are these capabilities These aircraft, these ships are also collecting information data that can be useful both for ongoing research and for monitoring these critical energy infrastructures and we are intensifying our intelligence sharing on information.

Markham, our maritime command in Northwood, is collecting a lot of this. information and we are also looking at some of the data that we have already collected over the last few weeks and months to see that when we review that data again if we were able to discover anything related to the attacks on the two pipelines in the Baltic Sea it also highlights the importance of the work that is being carried out in NATO to strengthen resilience, including the resilience of critical infrastructure, so a military presence will send a Terence message to collect and monitor and collect data and monitor infrastructure and then share information. and increasing resilience are the most important ways NATO allies are now supporting each other to prevent something similar from happening to any other critical energy infrastructure.

The last question was Regional, yes, Michael with the Wall Street Journal going back to some of the issues already raised, but Thanks in large part to the support of NATO members, Ukraine has had notable success on the battlefield in the recent weeks, but it seems that the more successful Ukraine is on the battlefield, the more erratic, belligerent and potentially dangerous Putin becomes, does this change the way? When you approach the situation, does it make you more cautious or in some ways the fact that the better Ukraine does in the fight against Russian troops, the greater the threats from Moscow seem to be?

Thanks, it doesn't change what we have. to do and that is to support Ukraine because if we let Putin win in Ukraine it will be catastrophic for Ukraine. Ukraine will cease to exist as an independent nation, but it will also be dangerous for us. It's not that inaction isn't a risk. It's a big risk because that will create a world in which Putin will see that with impunity he can use military force to invade the neighbor and then establish Sphero's influence, so when you hear what he has said not only about Ukraine but also about the members of NATO's Eastern Allies, uh, that will be a world that will be more dangerous for all of us, so yes, we face a dangerous war in Ukraine, but it's not that that war will no longer be dangerous if we allow Putin to win In many ways, we will at least increase the long-term risks for all of us and that is why we pay the cost of support in Ukraine and knowing that cost is the price we have to pay if we do not support them, the most It is likely that it will be much higher um we are closely monitoring what Russia is doing we have not seen any change in nuclear posture through Vigilant we are sharing information and we have conveyed very clearly to Russia that there will be serious consequences if they use nuclear forces against In Ukraine we also have to realize that we are talking about different types of escalation, one thing is escalation within Ukraine.

We have sent a clear message on this and, of course, there is also the risk of an escalation beyond Ukraine that spills over to all NATO allies. We have also been very clear. about that NATO is not a party to the conflict we support Ukraine but that does not make us point out the conflict we support a sovereign nation in The sovereign right to self-defense, in addition to that, we have also significantly increased our military presence in the eastern part of the Alliance we did it immediately after the generation because we were prepared that that morning of the invasion we activated all our defense stretches from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea and began the further deployment of additional troops in the eastern part of the Alliance to eliminate any space. due to a miscalculation or misunderstanding in Moscow about our willingness to protect every inch of NATO territory and more troops in the eastern part.

The Alliance is sending that message, so the objective of what NATO is doing is to support Ukraine but at the same time prevent escalation by sending a clear message to Moscow about the dangerous nuclear rhetoric and the consequences that the use of nuclear weapons will have. and demonstrating our willingness to defend and protect all allies by increasing the presence of NATO troops and the capabilities of the CNL in the eastern part of the ball. Thank you so much. This

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article concludes. Thank you. And so spoke NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. They are reacting to Vladimir Putin's illegal land grab in Ukraine and now I speak to DW's Brussels bureau chief, Alexandra Fenómeno, who is with us from NATO

headquarters

, Alexander You.

I have heard that press conference. Can you summarize well the most important points for us? I think we understand it better now. While Ian Stoltenberg decided to appear today to hold this press conference, he described the illegal annexation of Ukrainian territory bypart of Russia as At a crucial moment, of course, it condemned the illegal annexation saying that it is the largest escalation of the conflict since the beginning of the war, so it can be understood that NATO not only condemns the annexation but also She is worried at the same time. It was very interesting to listen to him when he was pressed on the question of whether NATO is now going to ask the Ukrainian president not to take back those upcoming territories and he was very clear in saying that the Ukrainians have the right to fight back. to try to continue and not reduce their counteroffensive, that it is important that they have the right to recover those territories, that NATO will never accept this illegal annexation, however, he also said that NATO has sent a strong message to the Kremlin making it clear. that any potential use of nuclear weapons will have serious consequences.

I also have DW's international editor-in-chief Richard Walker here with me in the studio. I'm Richard. We both heard that and a very important news is a reaction that emerged today in kyiv and that is the key formally requested to be a NATO member for fast track NATO membership. Stolt Map was asked about that and I dodged the question, didn't I? Yeah, it was a very interesting exchange and, um, yeah, it was a surprise move by the Ukrainians this afternoon, so. After Vladimir Putin announced this, it was expected for some time that he was going to illegally annex these regions of Ukraine, uh zelenski, the Ukrainian president came out saying that Ukraine now wants to join NATO and obviously some kind of maneuver. by the Ukrainians here, you know, in the hope of getting their protection from NATO, but maybe also for some kind of diplomatic and political purpose because it was very interesting to see how Stoltenberg responded to that because he was very clear in most of his messages and here he went back to some kind of talking points and bought some time and said: well, you know, every democracy has the right to apply for NATO within Europe, we support Ukraine's right to choose its own military alliances, but, you already know. a membership decision requires all 30 allies to support it and I think this was really a sign of his discomfort with this question and I think there's one kind of key expression that he would choose that he said twice during the During that press conference, NATO is not a party to this conflict, he said in his introductory comments and also later in response to another question, and NATO prefers it that way.

Yes, NATO is doing a lot to not become a party to this conflict. I think it's a very long shot proposed by Zelensky to try to get some sort of NATO protection while once this war has gone on for many months, but what Zelensky I think we'll be hoping for is to start getting some sort You know, at least a kind of moral and more political support, maybe this can be a lever to get more military support than from NATO allies. Back to Alexandra in Brussels about Ukraine's membership bid that is now official. How do you see this?

What is her opinion on this? How do you read what Stoltenberg said about this accelerated membership procedure? Well, I totally agree that Richards, even if we were a representative of the Ukrainian government, would show up here tomorrow next Monday to convey his application letter and say that he is not really going to change the situation or the application process and that It means, as Richard said, that the 30 members of the Alliance have to discuss that and they have to agree to Ukraine joining NATO and we saw that. In the past, many members said: how can a country that has lost parts of its territory become a member?

Now, of course, Ukraine is actively at war with Russia, so I don't see this happening, that we would have all the rights. 30 members on board say yes, we would like to welcome Ukraine as a new member, just think of hunger, just think of Turkey, technically we have to say that the Ukrainian army the Ukrainian army has begun to adhere to the standards of the NATO, they have Western weapons that they fight with. The use of Western weapons on the ground could technically be a possible process, but I think politically it is a very controversial and very difficult decision.

Alexandra phenomenon. Our Brussels correspondent and bureau chief. Thank you very much and also many thanks to our international editor-in-chief. Richard Walker, here in the studio with me, now is a good time to take a look at some of the other news and headlines from around the world today. At least 19 people were killed in a suicide bomb attack at an educational center in Kabul. Dozens more were killed. Wounded Afghan police say the attack occurred while students were taking university entrance exams. Hurricane Ian has regained strength and is now heading north towards the US state of South Carolina.

The storm has brought devastating winds and flooding.