Biden awards Stoltenberg with the highest civilian award in the US for his work leading the Alliance
10 Jul. () –
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Tuesday that a Russian victory in Ukraine would “embolden” other countries such as Iran, North Korea and China, which he accused of supporting Russian troops during his speech at the NATO summit in Washington marking the 75th anniversary of the alliance.
“The biggest cost and the biggest risk will be if Russia wins in Ukraine. We cannot allow that. Not only would it embolden President Putin, it would embolden other authoritarian leaders in Iran, North Korea and China. They all support Russia’s brutal war. They all want NATO to fail. So the outcome of this war will shape global security for decades to come. The time to stand up for freedom and democracy is now. The place is Ukraine,” Stoltenberg said.
He also highlighted the “true values of freedom” that both the Ukrainian people and the country’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, “represent”, to whom NATO has provided “unprecedented support” despite the “costs and risks” arising from an “aggressive” Russia.
“Russia’s war on Ukraine is the biggest security crisis in generations. Ukraine has shown extraordinary courage. And NATO allies have provided unprecedented support,” he added.
Stoltenberg also recalled that the founding of the Alliance came after “the horror, suffering and terrible human costs” of two world wars and with the aim of “preserving peace and safeguarding freedom”, something he considers to have been accomplished, making NATO “the most successful alliance in history” both in terms of duration and its achievements.
“Peace has been preserved. Freedom has been safeguarded. This makes NATO the most successful alliance in history. (…) To understand NATO’s enduring success, it is important to recognize that our transatlantic Alliance was never a ready-made thing. Rather, it is the result of deliberate choices and difficult decisions,” he stressed.
In this regard, he said that one of the keys to his success was the decision to keep his troops on the European continent to “face the Soviet threat” and to maintain talks with “the enemy” to “avoid an arms race that would get out of control and lead to a nuclear Armageddon.”
Finally, he stressed that NATO’s continued expansion with former members of the Warsaw Pact “has unified Europe in a way that was previously unthinkable” and has brought “peace and prosperity” to the entire continent despite the Kremlin’s annoyance at the growing number of allies.
Stoltenberg, who will step down in October after more than ten years in the post, has been awarded the highest civilian award in the US by US President Joe Biden for his work leading the Alliance, which he has “strengthened” to make it the “most successful in history”.
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