Following controversial comments made by his chief of staff, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg reiterated the Alliance’s position on Thursday, saying that only Ukraine can choose the parameters of any potential peace negotiations with Russia.
Only Ukraine decide peace with Russia: In the event that negotiations do take place, it will be up to the Ukrainian people, and the Ukrainian people alone, to decide when the conditions are right for them and what an agreeable settlement is.
“Our job is to support them,” he continued.
Stoltenberg delivered a speech at the occasion in Arendal, a small town in his native Norway, where Norwegian decision-makers have gathered this week.
Two days prior, at the same gathering, Stian Jenssen, the director of the NATO secretary general’s private office, proposed that one way to resolve the war may be for Ukraine to join NATO in exchange for giving some of its territory to Russia.
Later, Jenssen retracted his statements.
Stoltenberg declared, “NATO’s policy remains unchanged.”
“We support Ukraine in maintaining its territorial integrity and its internationally recognised borders.”
At a NATO summit in Vilnius early in July, they granted long-term military assistance to Ukraine but withheld immediate NATO membership.