Georgia and Ukraine have the right to choose their own alliances and Russia has no right to dictate this choice. This was said in a statement by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at a briefing in Brussels on Wednesday with Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili, writes UNN.
"Georgia and Ukraine have the right to choose their own alliances, and Russia has no right to dictate that choice. We reject any idea of spheres of influence in Europe; they are part of history and must remain part of history. So NATO will continue to provide strong political and practical support to its partners," Stoltenberg said.
The NATO secretary general said he discussed "the security situation in the region, including Russia's military build-up in and around Ukraine and its destabilizing activities in the Black Sea region," during his meeting with the Georgian prime minister.
"We agreed on the need to remain vigilant and avoid escalation. Any future Russian aggression will have a high price and serious political and economic consequences for Russia," Stoltenberg stressed.
We note that Putin's main condition for de-escalation of the situation near Ukraine's borders is obligatory guarantees from the United States and its allies that NATO will not expand further east and will not deploy weapons systems there that Russia considers a threat.
Against this backdrop, Russian and U.S. presidents Vladimir Putin and Joe Biden held bilateral talks via video link on December 7.
