NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Sunday warned Russia and Belarus against threatening the alliance's alliesand trying to destabilize the situation in the region, following the forced landing of a passenger plane within the European Union.
“We are of course ready, in an emergency, to protect and defend any ally against any kind of threat coming from Minsk and Moscow," Stoltenberg said to the Welt am Sonntag newspaper. "We are vigilant and we are following what is happening in Belarus very closely," he said. Belarus is becoming "more and more dependent" on Russia, he added.
Stoltenberg also said NATO was seriously concerned about the closer cooperation between Moscow and Minsk in recent months.
"We have had to learn in the past that Russia has massively violated the territorial integrity of states such as Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova."
He did not want to speculate too much, Stoltenberg said, noting, "NATO is a defensive alliance."
Lithuania, Latvia and Poland are all members of NATO and share borders with Belarus.
It's worth noting that on May 23, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko forced a Ryanair commercial flight between two EU capitals, Athens and Vilnius, to make an emergency landing in Minsk. Dissident journalist Roman Protasevich and his girlfriend Sofia Sapega, passengers on the plane, were arrested and are being held in custody.
While the EU imposed economic sanctions in response to the ations of government of Belarus, Russian President Vladimir Putin hosted Lukashenko for talks and said Moscow would support Belarus with $500 million in credit.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg warned Russian President Vladimir Putin and unrecognized President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko against trying to destabilize the situation in the region.
"The Allies are seriously concerned about closer cooperation between Moscow and Minsk in recent months. Earlier, Russia massively violated the territorial integrity of Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova," Stoltenberg stated.