December 4, 2018 (UNIAN) Secretary
General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Jens Stoltenberg says
NATO has implemented the biggest reinforcement of its collective defence since
the end of the Cold War. "NATO has implemented the biggest reinforcement
of our collective defence since the end of the Cold War, with higher readiness
of our armed forces, with combat battalions in the eastern part of the
Alliance. Allies are also now investing more in defence. NATO Allies are
strengthening our collective defence as a direct response to what we have seen
Russia has done against Ukraine," he said ahead of meetings of NATO
Foreign Ministers in Brussels on December 4, 2018.
"All Allies and NATO provide strong political support
and strong practical support to Ukraine. Ukraine is not a NATO member but we
strongly support Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity," he
said. "NATO Allies will also continue to help modernise and strengthen the
Ukrainian armed forces. NATO is also helping with different trust funds on
cyber, on command and control, and we also help to modernise the Ukrainian
Navy. Then I think we also have to remember that because of the aggressive
actions of Russia against Ukraine, illegally annexing Crimea, destabilizing
eastern Ukraine and now we have also seen what they have tried to do in the Sea
of Azov." In addition, Stoltenberg called on Russia to free recently
captured Ukrainian sailors. "We also call on Russia to release the sailors
and the ships they have seized," he said. As UNIAN reported, three
Ukrainian vessels were captured on November 25 by Russian forces at sea near
the Kerch Strait, which is the only outlet to the Sea of Azov and controls
access to two major Ukrainian ports. The two Ukrainian artillery boats and a
tugboat were heading from Odesa on the Black Sea to Mariupol on the Sea of
Azov. Twenty-four sailors were detained and "courts" in
Russian-occupied Crimea ruled that they be detained for two months, pending
trial. On November 29, the sailors were transferred to Moscow's Lefortovo and
Matrosskaya Tishina prisons.
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