Former NATO secretaries general voiced advice on the war in Ukraine/Collage 24 channels
To resolve the conflict provoked by Russia, Ukraine must get more weapons. At the same time, NATO must remain united and make more efforts to contain the aggressor country.
Such conclusions were voiced by four former secretaries general of the Alliance. They stressed that the question of what the truce with Russia will be should be left to the Ukrainians and the country's commanders in chief.
4 ex-NATO secretaries general voiced advice on the war in Ukraine
Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Lord George Robertson, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer and Javier Solana took part in the discussion of NATO's actions in today's conditions. The discussion took place on Wednesday, June 15.
Weapons are priority No. 1
One of the first speakers was the former Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen and NATO Secretary General from 2009 to 2014. According to him, the main goal of the world now is to provide Ukraine with the necessary weapons.
Ukrainians have the will to fight, we must provide them with something to fight. They are fighting for all of us, for freedom and democracy,” he stressed.
Anders Fogh Rasmussen added that NATO partners must do much more to help Ukrainians. He recalled that now long-range artillery remains a priority.
NATO should speak from a leadership position
He was supported by his predecessor as NATO Secretary General, George Robertson, who held this post from 1999 to 2004. He said that the supply of weapons should be accelerated, more attention should be paid to ensuring that the Ukrainians mastered them as quickly as possible, and it was also important to make it clear to President Putin that “NATO is not a losing alliance.”
I think the Russians need to know that Article 5 (NATO Charter – Channel 24) means that an attack on one of the NATO countries is an attack on all. And this powerful signal must reach the small group of people that surrounds President Putin. This needs to be said clearly, clearly, and so that they know that this is really serious,” Robertson said.
In his opinion, it is not necessary to specify what the Alliance can do in response, because the uncertainty for the enemy is one of the components of a successful containment strategy.
The world must understand: only Ukrainians determine what victory is for them
Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, who led NATO from 2004 to 2009, stressed that NATO must speak with one voice and work closely with the European Union on political issues, including sanctions. He also emphasized that only Ukrainians should decide what they would consider winning the war against Russia.
“We have a president of a sovereign and independent state called Ukraine, his name is Volodymyr Zelensky, and he is the leader, and therefore speculation about what is acceptable or unacceptable among our leaders must be avoided. At the NATO summit in Madrid, we need to demonstrate what Putin has managed to achieve an unprecedented form of solidarity,” says Jaap de Hoop Scheffer.
Russia must see NATO expand
Spanish politician Javier Solana, who was NATO Secretary General in December 1995 to October 1999, added that “for the first time in history there are deliveries of weapons in such a volume to a country that is not a member of NATO” and called for them to be delivered faster.
At the same time, he noted that it was difficult supply weapons to a country that is already at warand has only one open border – with Poland. Also, according to Solan, soon Russia will be closer to NATO, in particular, thanks to the entry into the Alliance of Finland and Sweden.
Some of the former NATO leaders expressed the hope that during the two weeks that remain before NATO summit, it will be possible to settle disputes with Turkey, which is blocking the issue of joining the Alliance of the Scandinavian countries.
Recall that the NATO summit in Madrid will be held on June 29-30. According to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg , 30 Heads of Alliance member states, four invited countries from the Asia-Pacific region (Australia, New Zealand, Japan and South Korea), representatives of four non-NATO EU countries, as well as the heads of the European Council and the European Commission will arrive in the Spanish capital in general, from 40 to 50 foreign delegations will take part in the summit.
Vladimir Zelensky also received an invitation. Although, most likely, he will address the summit participants remotely.
