On Friday, February 11, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and US President Joe Biden held a joint virtual meeting with EU leaders, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, as well as European Council President Charles Michel and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
“The participants made it clear that any further Russian aggression against Ukraine would come at a cost, and confirmed that they were ready to continue the dialogue with Russia. The NATO Secretary General warned that the risk of conflict in Europe is real and welcomed the recent deployment by NATO allies of additional defensive installations in the eastern part of the Alliance, the NATO press office said in a statement.
Stoltenberg stressed that NATO defense ministers will discuss next week how to further strengthen NATO's defensive posture.
At the same time, the leaders agreed on the importance of continuing attempts at dialogue with the Russian Federation.
– NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg recalled that he invited Russia and all other members of the Russia-NATO Council to further meetings to discuss European security, including the situation in and around Ukraine, NATO-Russia relations, transparency and risk reduction, and as well as arms control.
