NATO Secretary General: "If Russia Chooses Confrontation, It Will Pay a High Price"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Ki-min Lee] Jens Stoltenberg, Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), warned Russia on the 10th (local time) regarding the crisis surrounding Ukraine, saying, "If they choose confrontation, they will pay a heavy price."

According to AFP and other sources, Secretary General Stoltenberg held a joint press conference after meeting with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, stating, "Russia has options. They can choose a diplomatic solution. We are ready to sit down. But if they choose confrontation, they will pay a heavy price."

He warned that if Russia chooses confrontation, there will be economic sanctions and NATO military forces will be reinforced in the eastern regions of NATO allied countries.

He also said that NATO is closely monitoring the situation where Russia has started large-scale joint exercises with Belarus, a neighboring country of Ukraine, in Belarus on the same day, emphasizing again, "This is the largest scale since the end of the Cold War."

Secretary General Stoltenberg said, "This is a dangerous moment for European security," adding, "The number of Russian troops is increasing. The warning time for the possibility of an attack is decreasing."

Prime Minister Johnson also emphasized that the Ukraine crisis is at its most dangerous moment and that it is important to act appropriately in the coming days.

Johnson said, "Honestly, I don't think (Russia) has made a decision yet," but added, "But this does not mean that something terrible is really impossible to happen soon."

Russia, which annexed Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in 2014, has recently deployed about 100,000 troops near the Ukrainian border.

In particular, Russia, the United States, NATO, and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) have recently held negotiations but failed to reach a concrete agreement, escalating tensions over the Ukraine issue.

U.S. intelligence agencies believe that Russia could launch a full-scale invasion of Ukraine as early as the beginning of this year. Russia denies this and demands legally binding guarantees from the West, including the U.S., that Ukraine will not join NATO and that NATO will not deploy offensive weapons in Ukraine.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.