Stoltenberg: If Russia wins the cost would be greater than supporting Kiev
If Russia won in Ukraine, the cost of this victory would be even greater than supporting Kiev. This was stated by the Secretary General of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg, during a press conference in Poland together with the British Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak. “I think we need to remember that having a Russian neighbor has a cost,” just as there is a cost to “ensuring that Ukraine prevails,” Stoltenberg said. «We cannot escape this cost. We must understand that the most costly alternative is to allow Putin to win in Ukraine. Because then we will live in a much more dangerous world and we will have to invest much more in our defense than the support we now provide to Ukraine,” he added. «The reality is that having an aggressive neighbor has a cost, and we have a very aggressive neighbor. You can only invest in Ukraine’s security now. It’s good for them and it’s good for us. And this effectively reduces the overall cost of managing the Russian neighbor. If we allow Putin to win, the cost will increase, not decrease,” Stoltenberg continued. «Secondly, it must be remembered that even though all of us are now providing unprecedented significant support, Ukraine is only a fraction of our defense budgets, less than 0.2 percent of our GDP. By providing support to Ukraine we help them destroy Russian combat capabilities that could potentially be used against us. Supporting Ukraine is not charity, it is an investment in our security, and the alternative is more expensive,” he concluded.
