BERLIN – On June 30, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg expressed his gratitude to the German political leadership for its active participation in settling the Ukrainian conflict.
“I thank Chancellor [Angela] Merkel and [Foreign] Minister [Frank-Walter] Steinmeier for their tireless efforts. Germany is also the driving force behind the European Union’s sanctions against Russia,” he said in Berlin.
However, Stoltenberg one again criticized the role of Moscow in Ukraine.
“Russian leaders now speak of a ‘zone of privileged interest’. We risk returning to a time when great powers held sway over smaller states, when nations were not free to decide their own fate,” he said.
“This could create a sphere of instability for us all. It is not the sort of Europe we want 25 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall,” Stoltenberg added.
He reiterated that the path towards peace in Ukraine remains the full implementation of the Minsk agreements.
He also emphasized that NATO does not seek confrontation with Russia.
“Nor do we seek its isolation. And we will not be dragged into a new arms race. We still aspire to a constructive relationship with Russia,” he said.
