NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg assured on Monday that it is up to Ukraine to decide when to sit down for peace talks with Russia, as well as to set the terms for negotiation, stating that no such decision will be made «in Brussels or in any NATO capital».
«It is up to Ukraine to decide. It is they who must pay: they are paying the highest price in terms of lives lost and damage to the country. Therefore, it is up to Ukraine to decide what terms are acceptable to them, we should support them and maximize the likelihood of an acceptable outcome,» the NATO political chief said in remarks from the Netherlands, where he met with Dutch foreign and defense ministers.
In this regard, Stoltenberg has stressed that it is up to Kiev to agree on an «acceptable» way out of the conflict. «We will not sit here and decide that on their behalf. Nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine,» he said, then stressed that the terms of negotiation will not be dictated «from Brussels or another NATO capital.»
The former Norwegian prime minister has put in value that the Ukrainian authorities are open to negotiate but has insisted that in order to have an acceptable outcome of the talks there must be strength on the battlefield. «Most wars end at some point around the negotiating table. But what happens at the table is fundamentally linked to the situation on the battlefield,» he has stressed, calling for increasing military support to Kiev to get a more advantageous position in the eventual negotiations.
These statements come after reports circulated in recent weeks that the United States had asked the Ukrainian authorities not to close the door to negotiations with Russia.
The European Union stresses that there is unity in supporting Kiev for the duration of the conflict and that it is up to Ukraine alone to decide when to negotiate with Moscow. To this effect, the High Representative for Foreign Policy, Josep Borrell has exposed this Monday that Ukraine will be the one to «decide what to do». «Our duty is to support them», he concluded.
