NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg assured Thursday from Berlin at a joint press conference with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz that the Atlantic Alliance «is not a party» to the Ukrainian conflict and that it will not be «dragged into Putin’s war».
«As winter approaches, Russia is shelling Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, trying to freeze and subdue Ukrainians. Putin is using winter as a weapon and we cannot allow him to win,» Stoltenberg has indicated.
The NATO Secretary General also recalled during the press conference the recent «sabotage» of the Nord Stream pipelines and assured that this reminded «everyone» of the «vulnerability» of the infrastructure.
«In response, NATO has doubled the number of ships patrolling the North Sea and the Baltic Sea and increased Intelligence sharing. But we need to do more to help protect this vital infrastructure,» he said.
Stoltenberg also welcomed the pact between Germany and Norway to protect undersea infrastructure through a NATO Infrastructure Center. «Such a center would provide allies with better situational awareness,» he said, adding that it could be a map for identifying «vulnerabilities.»
