NATO Deputy Secretary General Ambassador Alexander Vershbow spoke at the Interparliamentary Conference for the Common Foreign And Security Policy (CFSP) and Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) in Riga, Latvia, on March 5, 2015.
Alexander Vershbow wrote on his official twitter that he is honoured to discuss the cooperation between ESDP (European Security and Defence Policy) and NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization):
Read my speech at the Riga Conference on @eu_eeas Common Foreign Security Policy here: http://t.co/Oz6hhoAyAg #parleu2015lv
— Alexander Vershbow (@NATOdsg) 5 Березень 2015
NATO Deputy Secretary General Ambassador admitted that Russia’s aggression in Ukraine has a long history and is logical based on events in Moldova and Georgia:
“Russia’s aggressive actions in Ukraine reflect an evolving pattern of behaviour that has been emerging for several years – from Moldova, through Georgia. And it is justified by a false narrative alleging that Russia has been humiliated and encircled by the West ever since the end of the Cold War. This is a myth. The reality is that for over twenty years, NATO has tried to engage Russia, not to isolate it.”
Alexander Vershbow also talked about providing by Russia ‘hybrid warfare’ :
“We have also seen emerging a new form of ‘hybrid warfare,’ combining military intimidation, disguised intervention, the covert supply of weapons and weapon systems, economic blackmail, diplomatic duplicity and media manipulation, with outright disinformation.”
Mr. Vershbow noted that Russia provides so horrible not only geopolitics but domestic politics too. Inside Russia democratic moovements are repressed and the example is the death of Boris Nemtsov who was against Russia’s war crimes in Ukraine. As the result of Kremlin’s outside politics soldiers are fighting and dying in large numbers in Donbas, Ukraine:
“Russian incursion into Ukraine is becoming much less popular among the Russian public – especially as Russian leaders are less and less able to conceal the fact that Russian soldiers are fighting – and dying – in large numbers in Eastern Ukraine.”
The agreements reached in Minsk last month are an important step to end the violence and promote a political solution to the Ukraine conflict. But full implementation is key. And Russia has a special responsibility, together with the separatists that it supports with training, equipment and forces, to bring about a real de-escalation – not a temporary pause, but a lasting solution that allows the people of Eastern Ukraine to have their normal lives restored as part of unified, democratic Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders,” added NATO Deputy Secretary General Ambassador Alexander Vershbow.
