NATO could have done more to avert Ukraine war: Stoltenberg

NATO could have done more to arm Ukraine to try to prevent Russia’s all-out invasion in 2022, the outgoing head of the Western defense alliance said in a German newspaper interview.

“Now we are providing military equipment for the war — back then, we could have provided military equipment to prevent the war,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told the Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper in an interview published on Saturday.

Stoltenberg pointed to the alliance’s reluctance to provide weapons that Kyiv had asked for before Russia’s full-scale invasion because of fears that tensions with Moscow would escalate. After the war started, Ukraine, which is not a member of NATO, received one weapons system after another from its Western allies after initial hesitation.

The NATO chief said an end to the conflict in Ukraine would be achieved only at the negotiating table. “To end this war, there will have to be again dialogue with Russia at a certain stage. But it has to be based on Ukrainian strength,” he was quoted as saying.

Stoltenberg, a former Norwegian prime minister who has been head of the military alliance since 2014, will step down in October and be succeeded by former Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte.

In the interview, Stoltenberg declined to confirm that he would take over as head of the Munich Security Conference (MSC) after leaving NATO. He said he had “many options” and would reside in Oslo. POLITICO reported on Thursday that Stoltenberg will become the new MSC chairman, citing a person familiar with the matter. POLITICO is a media partner of the MSC.