The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) announced this Wednesday that prepares the deployment of additional combat forces in four countries on its eastern flankand issued a warning to China for its support for
On the eve of an alliance summit in Brussels, the entity’s secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, advanced the shipment and deployment of additional groups to those deployed in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland.
“I hope that the leaders will agree to strengthening the position of the alliance in all domains (…) The first step is the deployment of four new battle groups in Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia”.
In addition, they must approve a specific support “for other partners facing the risk of Russian pressureincluding Georgia and Bosnia”.
At that summit, NATO leaders intend to reaffirm support for Ukraine with concrete gestures.
“We are determined to do everything possible to support Ukraine, but we have a responsibility to ensure that the war does not escalate beyond Ukraine and becomes a conflict between NATO and Russia“, he added.
Such a scenario, Stoltenberg noted, “would cause even more death and even more destruction“.
According to the official, NATO expects to approve “additional support, including cybersecurity assistance, as well as equipment to help Ukraine protect itself once morest chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear threats.”
This same Tuesday, the president of the United States, Joe Biden, said in Washington that the possibility of a Russian chemical weapons attack in Ukraine was a “real threat”.
“Dangerous and irresponsible”
Stoltenberg said that the use of nuclear weapons “will fundamentally change the nature of the conflict. And Russia must understand that it will never A nuclear war must be fought, and a nuclear war can never be won.”
For the head of the transatlantic alliance, “Russia must stop its nuclear threats. That is dangerous and irresponsible.”
Similarly, the use of chemical weapons would completely change the war scenario. “The most important message now is that the use of chemical weapons is absolutely unacceptable and it would have profound effects,” he said.
In this scenario, Stoltenberg also issued a harsh warning to China, which he accused to help spread “lies” prepared by Russia.
“China has provided political support to Russia, including by spreading outright lies and disinformationand the allies are concerned that China will provide material support to the Russian invasion,” he said.
Therefore, the leaders of the military alliance must “call on China to fulfill its responsibilities as a member of the Security Council of the UN and refrain from supporting the Russian war effort” in Ukraine.
Similarly, NATO is preparing a call to Belarus to “end its complicity with Russia’s operations in Ukraine.
Belarus, he added, “allows the invasion” of Ukraine by providing airstrips and military infrastructure, and allowing Russia to “use Belarusian airspace.”
NATO resists the insistent requests made by the president of Ukraine, Volodimir Zelensky, for the implementation of a no-fly zone over Ukrainian territory, since this might represent an open conflict with Russia.
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