NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg on Wednesday told members of Congress that the threat of “a more assertive Russia” requires members of the alliance to “overcome our differences now because we will need our alliance even more in the future,” adding that “[w]e face unprecedented challenges – challenges no one nation can face alone.”
Stoltenberg urged Russia to start complying with the intermediate-range nuclear forces (INF) treaty again. In February of this year, the US government announced that it will pull out of the agreement, citing Russian violations as the reason. One month later, Russia announced that it was also abandoning the treaty. If both countries don’t change course, the agreement will be officially defunct by August of this year.
The NATO Secretary-General emphasized that the alliance does not intend to “[deploy] land-based nuclear missiles in Europe,” but warned that “NATO will always take the necessary steps to provide credible and effective deterrence.”
Read more: NATO chief warns of ‘more assertive Russia’ in US Congress speech
