Stoltenberg: We respect Serbia's decision not to join NATO

Photo: Tanjug/AP

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said last night that the alliance absolutely respects Serbia's decision not to join it.

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Stoltenberg said that NATO has never forced any country to join NATO, and in that sense he especially stressed that NATO strongly supports and respects Serbia's decision not to join the alliance.

"That is a sovereign and independent decision of Serbia and NATO absolutely respects it, as it respects the decisions of Sweden and Finland, which are our close partners, but have not joined NATO," Stoltenberg told Vesti TV.

He added that the key role of NATO in Kosovo and Metohija is to support political dialogue and enable free movement for all, stressing that the alliance absolutely respects Serbia's decision not to join.

Stoltenberg said that the alliance has an important role in maintaining peace and preventing conflicts, as well as finding a political solution when it comes to the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina, and that in that sense it supports the EU, which helps in that dialogue.

"The key role of NATO in Kosovo is to support political dialogue and to ensure freedom of movement of all communities in Kosovo," he stressed.

Speaking about the alliance's presence in the Balkans, Stoltenberg said that NATO has offices in Sarajevo, KFOR forces in Kosovo and Metohija and an office in Belgrade, and recalled that Montenegro and North Macedonia have joined NATO, emphasizing the alliance's role in preventing new conflicts in the Western Balkans.

He also said that his ten-year term at the helm of NATO ends this year, on October 1, and that he will take over as governor of the Central Bank in Norway at the end of the year.

Stoltenberg added that he highly appreciates his position as NATO secretary general and the cooperation he achieved with Serbia during his mandate.

"There is no document on non-expansion to East"

NATO is strongly engaged in finding a political solution with Russia.

"There is no document on our non-expansion to the East," NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said last night.

"We've presented concrete proposals to Russia in written documents, stating that we are ready to talk about arms control, measures for transparent military activities, missiles and other problems," Stoltenberg said for Vesti TV.

He also said that they invited Moscow to attend meetings of the NATO-Russia Council, where they could express their concerns, in order to find a political solution to the situation which, he said, was created by the amassing of the Russian troops.

Asked if there was a signed document that NATO would not expand to the East, which Russia constantly insists on, Stoltenberg said that such a document had never been signed.

"On the contrary, we, as an alliance of 30 countries, have always emphasized in our documents that the door to join NATO is always open for countries in Europe that meet NATO standards," he stated.

Asked to comment on Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov's statement that NATO cannot be considered as a defensive alliance given its military operations in Yugoslavia, Libya and Afghanistan, Stoltenberg said that NATO "is a defense alliance, but in preserving peace it follows the principle that an attack on one provokes the response of all other allies."

The secretary general stressed that NATO has managed to preserve peace among allies for more than 70 years, and that the very role of the alliance is not to provoke conflict but to prevent it.

"I work with many generals and my experience is that they are very aware of the importance of preventing war, because they know how terrible and destructive it can be. For that reason, NATO is a political military alliance that is always looking for a political solution," Stoltenberg said.

(Telegraf.rs)