(Dan Tri) – NATO Secretary General announced that the alliance has no plans to deploy troops to Ukraine.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg (Photo: Getty).
`NATO has no plans to send troops to Ukraine. NATO nor its allies are not parties to the conflict,` NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said in an interview with Reuters on March 11.
Mr. Stoltenberg warned that even if NATO member countries decide to send troops to a conflict zone, the entire NATO bloc will be affected because NATO members are bound by a collective defense treaty.
When asked whether French President Emmanuel Marcon’s comments about the lack of consensus on deploying troops to Ukraine were a mistake, Mr. Stoltenberg did not answer directly but said that discussion was needed.
`I think it is important that we consult and have a common approach to these important topics because they are important to all of us,` Stoltenberg added.
Previously, President Macron said there is currently no consensus at this stage on sending troops to the Ukrainian battlefield, but this scenario cannot be ruled out.
Many NATO members have rejected President Macron’s statement, with the majority of countries pledging not to get involved in Ukraine, instead suggesting that the bloc should focus on military and financial support for Kiev.
The NATO Secretary General stated `there are no plans to deploy NATO combat forces on the ground in Ukraine` and several members of the alliance, including the United States, have issued separate statements denying any
US National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson said President Joe Biden `has made it clear that the US will not send troops to fight in Ukraine`.
According to data from the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, the US and its allies have sent more than $278 billion in financial, military and material aid to the Ukrainian government since the conflict with Russia escalated in February.
Moscow has warned that the presence of NATO troops in Ukraine could make a direct confrontation between Russia and the US-led bloc inevitable.
A report published by US intelligence on March 12 stated that Russian President Vladimir Putin almost certainly does not want direct confrontation with NATO and will limit activities that Moscow believes exceed the limits and
US intelligence believes that Russia will continue to use `all sources of national power` to advance its interests and attempt to weaken the influence of the US and its allies, despite the separation of markets.
