Stoltenberg admitted that NATO has been preparing for the conflict in Ukraine since 2014

The year of the conflict in Ukraine has not changed NATO, as the alliance has been preparing for it since 2014, admitted NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at a press conference in Brussels, transmits TASS.

“He [конфликт] did not change NATO, he only demonstrated the importance of NATO. Because since 2014, NATO has begun to carry out the most significant build-up of its military forces,” Stoltenberg said, adding that the conflict did not start in February 2022, but in 2014. From the moment he added, NATO began to adapt. Thus, the NATO Secretary General answered the question of how the year of the conflict in Ukraine changed the alliance.

“[С 2014 года] we have increased the number of response forces, the number of military exercises, raised defense spending for the first time in many years,” Stoltenberg said. According to him, this did not fundamentally change NATO, but only confirmed its importance. The NATO Secretary General acknowledged that the alliance was preparing for conflict.

Press Secretary of the President of Russia Dmitry Peskov January 30 declaredthat Western deliveries of new weapons to Ukraine lead to a significant escalation of the conflict, but this is not capable and will not potentially change the course of events. The Kremlin spokesman has made similar statements more than once. In particular, in the summer of Peskov declaredthat the supply of weapons to Kyiv will not change the parameters of the Russian special operation, its goals will be achieved in any case.

The Russian authorities have repeatedly criticized the supply of Western weapons to Kyiv. In particular, the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, has repeatedly pointed out that pumping Ukraine with weapons brings NATO closer to the dangerous line of a direct military clash with Russia.

The special military operation began on February 24, 2022. President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin called the protection of the inhabitants of Donbass, as well as the demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine, its goals. During the special operation, Russian troops took full control of the LPR, as well as most of the DPR, Kherson and Zaporozhye regions. Subsequently, these territories became part of Russia, and on October 19 martial law was introduced in the regions.