Stoltenberg: Putin's nuclear threats to NATO allies aimed at preventing them from supporting Ukraine
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has said in an exclusive interview with the Interfax-Ukraine News Agency that Vladimir Putin's recent threats on the review of the nuclear deterrence doctrine are just another attempt to threaten NATO allies and prevent them from supporting Ukraine.
As soon as on Tuesday, October 1, the official ceremony of handing over NATO Secretary General powers to Mark Rutte, who was previously the Prime Minister of the Netherlands, will be held.
"I read that as yet another example of a pattern we have seen from the Russian side, where Moscow and President Putin have tried again and again to threaten with the use of nuclear weapons and to threaten NATO allies and prevent from supporting Ukraine. And every time we have stepped up our support with a new, more advanced system, Russia has tried to say this is a red line," Stoltenberg said.
At the same time, he noted that the allies "have not accepted that because we have the right to support Ukraine in upholding the right of self-defense."
"Russia conducts an illegal war, we are conducting legitimate support to a legitimate war of self-defense, where Ukraine is defending itself. We also conveyed clearly to Moscow several times that a nuclear war cannot be won, and must never be fought. And we are closely monitoring what Russia is doing," the Secretary General said.
As for the issue of lifting all restrictions on the use of long-range weapons by Ukraine against Russia, Stoltenberg said, "I may declare again that we need to remember what this is. This is a war of aggression. Russia has decided to invade another country, Ukraine, and that's a blatant violation of international law. According to international law, Ukraine has the right to self-defense. And we have the right to support Ukraine, to uphold the right of self-defense. And self-defense includes the right to strike legitimate military targets on the territory of the aggressor, Russia."
"And therefore, I have advocated for lifting restrictions. And I welcome that some allies don't have restrictions. Other allies have some restrictions, but they have actually loosened them, not least after Russia launched its offensive in Kharkiv some months ago, where the borderline and the front line is more or less the same. It's not meaningful to say that you cannot attack behind the front lines, because that's Russian territory. So, I welcome the loosening of restrictions you have seen from allies," he said.