Ahead of the meetings of NATO Defence Ministers in Brussels, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said this ministerial would focus on “the critical security situation in Europe but we will also have other meetings. We will meet with our partners from Ukraine and Georgia.”

“That will be a platform to address the importance of sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries in Europe, including Georgia and Ukraine. We will also meet with our close partners, Sweden and Finland, and the European Union. There will also be a regular meeting of the NATO Nuclear Planning Group,” Jens Stoltenberg stated.

NATO Secretary General stated that  despite the signs from Moscow about readiness to continue diplomatic efforts “so far, we have not seen any de-escalation on the ground. On the contrary, it appears that Russia continues the military build-up.”

“And if Russia once again invades Ukraine, they will pay a high price. And we will continue to expose Russia’s  plans and actions to make it harder for them to conduct aggressive actions against Ukraine. But we really hope that Russia will engage in meaningful dialogue and choose diplomacy instead of confrontation. And we are ready to sit down and find a political solution,” Jens Stoltenberg stressed.

#NATO #DefMin will address the most serious security crisis in Europe for decades. There are signs from #Russia that diplomacy should continue. This gives grounds for cautious optimism, but so far we have not seen any sign of de-escalation on the ground in & around #Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/V8ZJBYe23U

— Jens Stoltenberg (@jensstoltenberg) February 15, 2022