NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has called a more assertive Russia and terrorism NATO`s main challenges in his exclusive interview with Voice of America upon his arrival in Washington to consult with U.S. leaders before the Warsaw NATO Summit in July.
The NATO chief said that the Summit will address the issue how the Bloc will step up the response ”to a more assertive Russia responsible for aggressive actions in Ukraine” and how NATO can ”step up efforts to contribute to the fight against ISIL.”
”That is the two main challenges we face and they are very different. But at the same time we have to be able to both face the challenges from the Southern Flank, from the Middle East/North Africa and at the same time face the challenges posed by Russia to the East,” said Stoltenberg. ”And what we are doing is we are implementing the biggest reinforcement to our collective defense since the end of the Cold War.”
NATO is neither seeking confrontation with Russia nor a cold war, Stoltenberg said, but rather a dialogue to avoid incidents like the downing of the Russian plane over Turkey. He added that in the event of something like that happening, NATO can help keep it from spinning out of control.
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