Brussels – NATO could help Ukraine to strengthen its defense reforms and the protection of critical infrastructure, and NATO's greatest responsibility is to protect and defend the populations and territories of its members, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said in Poland on May 8, 2014.
“And we have sent an unmistakable message to Russia: your behavior does not belong in the 21st century. And your rhetoric draws on obscure clichés of the Cold War,” he said, speaking on May 8 at a joint press conference with Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs, Radoslaw Sikorski and Minister of Defence Tomasz Siemoniak.
Rasmussen said that ships and aircraft from across NATO are demonstrating our vigilance and resolve, from the Baltic to the Black Sea.
“And we stand ready to take further steps, with enhanced exercises, updated defense plans, and appropriate deployments. We have also reinforced our support to Ukraine. For example, by helping to strengthen its defense reforms and the protection of critical infrastructure,” he said.
“Russian officials claim that NATO should call on the Ukrainian armed forces to stop any operations in the east of their country, because we urged the military to stay out of politics in February. To compare what happened in Kiev in February with what is happening today in Eastern Ukraine is totally misleading. And coming from Russia, it is hypocritical,” he said.
“Public protests against any government are part of democracy. But violent pro-Russian separatists, armed with heavy weapons, who occupy public building and who take hostages, are not part of any democracy. And if these groups swear open allegiance to Russia, whose troops are massed on Ukraine’s borders, and who has grabbed a piece of Ukraine, that is not democracy,” Rasmussen said.
“That is a challenge to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Ukrainian state – and every state has the right and responsibility to protect its territory and its population,” he said.
“Russia should live up to its international commitments and obligations, stop supporting separatists, and pull back its troops from Ukraine’s borders. So that a political solution can finally be found to this grave crisis just next door from Poland. The elections on May 25 give the Ukrainian people a choice. That is democracy and Russia should stop undermining these elections,” he said.
