NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg commented on the joint statement of Russian and Chinese leaders Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping demanding that the alliance not expand.
"This is not about expanding NATO as a matter of principle. It is about respecting the right of every sovereign nation to choose its own path, including whether they want to belong to NATO or not to belong to NATO. NATO respects those independent, sovereign, free positions. And NATO has never forced any country to join our Alliance. But many countries have actually decided through democratic processes that they want to be part of NATO," Stoltenberg said, commenting on the relevant statement Friday at the request of a journalist on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" program.
He stressed, however, that the expansion of the alliance, "which the countries of Central and Eastern Europe have joined, has been a great success story in recent decades."
"The number of members has almost doubled since the end of the Cold War. And it has helped spread freedom and democracy throughout Europe. So this is about respecting the independent sovereign choices of independent nations, not about a return to the era of spheres of influence, where the big powers decide what the small neighbors can and cannot do," the NATO secretary general is convinced.
As you know, during the visit of Russian President Putin to Beijing on February 4, a joint statement with the president of China was adopted, which said that "the Chinese side is sympathetic and supports the proposals put forward by the Russian Federation on the formation of long-term legally binding security guarantees in Europe."
"The sides oppose further expansion of NATO, call on the North Atlantic Alliance to abandon ideologized approaches of the Cold War era, respect the sovereignty, security and interests of other countries, the diversity of their civilizational and cultural-historical patterns, and treat the peaceful development of other states objectively and fairly," they said.
