What I can say is that I am absolutely confident that the new German government will be committed to NATO, to the transatlantic bond. NATO is an alliance of 30 Allies and we have different governments and we have elections and we have changed our governments.
It's not for me to comment on domestic issues.
Journalist: How do you see the next German government? This is cynical and it's inhumane and therefore NATO Allies have condemned this behaviour by the Lukashenko regime in a joint statement.
What we see is that the Lukashenka regime is actually using vulnerable people as a tool to put pressure on other countries. So we have still a difficult situation, we are concerned but at the same time we have seen some movements in the right direction and of course we welcome that. We have also worked with partner countries as Iraq and we welcome the fact that Iraq is now taking back people and has stopped the flights. We also sent earlier this fall a team of experts to Lithuania to help them to support them.Īt the same time we also welcome the efforts by Germany to try to find a solution and we have seen some steps in the right direction. NATO Allies stand in solidarity with Poland and also with Lithuania and Latvia, two other NATO Allies directly affected by a difficult situation along the borders. Journalist: What about on the Polish-Belarus border? Have you been asked to assist in any way? We are firm, we are united at the same time we are ready to talk to Russia to reduce tensions and make sure that we prevent any escalation of the situation. So our message is that we are sending a clear message of solidarity, of the need to make it clear that we respect and all countries should respect the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine. With increased military presence in the Baltic region, Poland.Īnd Germany is part of that, leading one of the battle groups in the Baltic countries, in Lithuania.Īnd then we also have air policing and we have increased our presence. We, NATO Allies, provide support to Ukraine: capacity building, political support.Īnd, of course, we also… since the illegal annexation of Crimea, NATO has implemented the biggest reinforcements of our collective defense since the end of the Cold War. We are monitoring and following the situation closely. How dangerous is the situation on the eastern border, are both sides still talking to each other?įirst of all, I think we need to distinguish between what we see along the borders with Ukraine or Ukraine and Russia and also inside Ukraine, in Crimea, and what we see at the border between Poland and Belarus. Journalist: You mentioned the challenges. We don't regard China as an adversary, but we need to address the security effects of the rise of China.Īnd then we see more frequent cyber-attacks and many other challenges.Īll this makes it even more important that Europe and North America stand together in NATO, and that's what I'm looking forward to discuss here today. We also see a significant military build-up by Russia close to the borders of Ukraine.Īnd we see an unusual concentration of forces and we call on Russia to be transparent and to prevent an escalation and to help and to reduce the tensions along the borders with Ukraine.Īnd then of course, we see many other challenges. NATO stands in solidarity with our ally, Poland and other Allies affected like Lithuania and Latvia. We see the difficult situation along the border between Belarus and Poland. Germany contributes to NATO in many different ways.Īnd Germany really helps to strengthen the Transatlantic Alliance.Īnd we need a strong bond between Europe and North America, not least when we face new and many different security challenges at the same time. It's great to be back in Berlin and I'm looking forward to take part in this exchange and to discuss important security challenges for the North Atlantic Alliance.
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