NATO will continue to ensure that there is no room for miscalculation in Moscow about our readiness and resolve to protect all Allies. Such a statement made today the NATO Secretary General ahead of the meetings of NATO Ministers of Defence in Brussels.

“NATO has been able to prevent a military attack against any NATO Ally for 75 years. And we have done that, because it has been absolutely clearly communicated from all NATO Allies at any time, that we are there to protect our Allies. And the whole idea of NATO is that an attack on one Ally will trigger the response from the whole Alliance.

And as long as we stand behind that message, together, we prevent any military attack on any Ally. So the purpose of NATO is to prevent war, is to preserve peace, is to prevent the attack on NATO Allies, and we have done so successfully for decades. Because our deterrence is credible. So any suggestion that we are not standing up for each other, that we are not going to protect each other, that does undermine the security of all of us, increasing the risks. And therefore it is so important that we both in action, but also in words, communicate clearly that we stand by NATO"s commitment to protect and defend all Allies.

The good news is that, that is exactly what NATO Allies are doing. NATO has the capabilities, we have the resolve to protect and defend all Allies. And that"s also the reason why we don"t see any imminent threat against any NATO Ally. Because we have, since 2014, significantly enforced our collective defence. We have the strongest reinforcements over collective defence in decades.

And that was, of course, triggered by President Putin"s illegal annexation of Crimea. But it was a decision by NATO Allies back in 2014, that since the world has changed, since the world became more dangerous, it was necessary for NATO to respond. And that"s exactly what we have done.

And with more defence spending, record high defence investments across the Alliance with more forces deployed in Eastern part of the Alliance, with high readiness of our forces, with heavy investments in new modern capabilities, all of that together has strengthened NATO.

And as long as we continue to invest, as long as we continue to adapt NATO, we will continue to ensure that no NATO ally, is attacked”, - said Jens Stoltenberg.