NATO Secretary General - Doorstep statement at Defence Ministers Meeting, 16 FEB 2022

Doorstep statement by the NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at the meetings of NATO Defence Ministers at NATO Headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, 16 February 2022. ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ Good morning. NATO Defence Ministers will meet today and tomorrow, facing critical challenges for European security. And we have heard the signs from Moscow about readiness to continue diplomatic efforts. But so far, we have not seen any de-escalation on the ground. On the contrary, it appears that Russia continues the military build-up. And we have not received any response to our written document, our written proposals, that we sent to Russia on the 26th of January. Outlining the topics and items where NATO Allies are ready sit down and discuss with Russia and to try to find a political path forward. We will continue to convey a very clear message to Russia that we are ready to sit down and discuss with them. But at the same time, we are prepared for the worst. And if Russia once again invades Ukraine, they will pay a high price. And we will continue to expose Russia’s plans and actions to make it harder for them to conduct aggressive actions against Ukraine. But we really hope that Russia will engage in meaningful dialogue and choose diplomacy instead of confrontation. And we are ready to sit down and find a political solution. ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ SUBSCRIBE to this channel http://bit.ly/NATOsubscribe SUBSCRIBE to NATO News http://bit.ly/NATONewsSubscribe SUBSCRIBE to NATO History http://bit.ly/NATOHistorySubscribe Connect with NATO online: Visit the Official NATO Homepage: http://bit.ly/NATOhomepage Receive NATO updates via email: http://bit.ly/NATOemails Find NATO on FACEBOOK: http://bit.ly/NATOfacebook Follow @NATO on TWITTER: http://bit.ly/NATOtwitter Follow NATO on Instagram: http://bit.ly/NATOinstagram Find NATO on LinkedIn: http://bit.ly/NATOlinkedin Find NATO on Flickr: http://bit.ly/NATOflickr #NATO #OTAN #DefMin