Jens Stoltenberg: “Russia willing to use military force, intimidate neighbours”

North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg believes Russia has become "more assertive” and is more eager than ever to put pressure on its neighbours and expand its influence.

The NATO top official said while Russia did not pose any imminent threat to any NATO ally, including countries in the eastern part of the Alliance, Russia had become more assertive.

Russia under President Vladimir Putin, in an attempt to reestablish a sphere of influence around its borders, is willing to use military force … to intimidate its neighbours, to change borders in Europe, annex Crimea, destabilise eastern Ukraine, and having troops in Georgia and Moldova and so on,” Stoltenberg said at the Atlantic Council in Washington yesterday. 

Despite believing Russia posed no immediate threat, Stoltenberg stressed in response to Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea and subsequent support for separatists in eastern Ukraine, NATO had become "more agile and better prepared,” and its Response Force was now three times bigger. 

The NATO official said in the long run it was more sustainable to enable local forces to protect their countries than to deploy large number of NATO troops there.

We have recently launched training and capacity building initiatives in Georgia, Moldova and Jordan. And we will soon begin advising Tunisia on counter-terrorism and help improve the capacity of their armed forces,” Stoltenberg said. 

However, he noted NATO was not seeking a confrontation with Russia.

We will avoid a new Cold War,” he said, adding NATO was striving towards a more cooperative relationship with Russia, "but it has to be firm to establish the basis for political dialogue”.

In his speech the NATO top official also touched on a range of other issues, including terrorism, the upcoming NATO Summit in Warsaw, Poland and the key priorities of the Alliance.