Stoltenberg: 'New normal' forces NATO rethink

OTTAWA, Ont. — NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg says Russia’s war on Ukraine is forcing the military alliance to launch an urgent rethink of its long-term strategy.

“We need to … have a serious assessment of the longer-term adaptation of NATO — our posture, our presence and also how we can strengthen our ability to reinforce quickly,” Stoltenberg said during a virtual session of an Ottawa defense conference Wednesday when asked if Russia's assault on Ukraine will force NATO to establish a permanent line of defense in eastern Europe.

“We stepped up during the autumn and especially after the invasion. But then there will also be some more longer-term changes.”

Stoltenberg said the deliberations will start during next week’s meeting of NATO defense ministers. Final decisions on the alliance's new direction should be made closer to the NATO summit in late June, he said after delivering a speech to the CDA Institute’s Ottawa Conference.

The reexamination will take place as its members shore up the alliance’s forces in eastern Europe in response to the crisis in Ukraine.

The secretary-general told the defense conference that NATO has increased its presence along its eastern edge — where for the first time the alliance has “combat-ready battle groups.” Allies, he added, have also tripled the size of the NATO Response Force and increased its readiness.

Stoltenberg later offered more insight into the issues confronting NATO.

“It’s obvious that we are faced with a new reality, a new security environment, a new normal,” Stoltenberg said in response to another question about NATO's readiness for what may lie ahead. “Russia, more openly, is contesting core values for our security, including the right of every nation to choose their own path, or NATO's right to protect and defend our allies.”

He argued that the concerns stretch beyond Ukraine, noting Russia’s threat of military consequences should Sweden or Finland apply for NATO membership.

China has also become part of the equation, he added.

“Russia and China are now operating more closely together, exercising more closely together, interacting militarily and politically more closely together,” said Stoltenberg, who underlined Beijing’s reluctance to condemn Russia’s attacks on Ukraine while, for the first time, criticizing NATO’s expansion.

“We have two authoritarian powers which are challenging the rules-based order; who are openly against our core values, freedom of speech, freedom of expression, democracy, the rule of law. … This is the challenge we have to step up to.”