NATO Chief Visits Washington, Seeks Predictable Support To Ukraine For The Long Haul

U.S. President Joe Biden and NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg met in the Oval Office Monday afternoon to discuss the Alliance's 'predictable support' to Ukraine for the long haul, less than a month before its leaders convene in Washington, TURAN's U.S. correspondent reports.

"I expect that, when we meet here next month, we will agree to have NATO in the lead role in providing security assistance and training [for Ukraine]," the Secretary-General told reporters after the meeting when asked by TURAN's Washington correspondent about discussion about Ukraine.

If agreed, the new NATO headquarters for support to Ukraine will be located in Wiesbaden, Germany, the officials say.

Stoltenberg went on to elaborate: “I expect that this will be led by a three-star general and will be to provide logistics support to set up the capabilities that Ukraine needs... This is important because it will provide more predictability, more accountability when it comes to supporting Ukraine and also reduce the burden on the United States.”

During the Oval Office meeting, Stoltenberg also told Biden that a record number of NATO allies - 23 out of 32 members - are hitting the alliance’s defense spending target this year. The estimated figure is a nearly fourfold increase from 2021, when only six nations were meeting the goal right before Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

"European Allies are also stepping up and matching U.S. contributions, military support to Ukraine," he added.

Stoltenberg’s meeting in Washington came just a day after he appeared to suggest deploying more nuclear weapons in response to Russia’s war in Ukraine, which triggered a reaction from the Kremlin as spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted as claiming that they Alliance was engaging in “nothing but another escalation of tension”.

NATO spokesperson Farah Dakhlallah on Monday clarified Stoltenberg’s comments, emphasizing that the alliance is committed to ensuring a safe, secure and effective nuclear deterrent and beyond that, "there are no significant changes to our nuclear deterrent.”

As for Perkov's comments, State Department's spokesperson Matthew Miller told TURAN's correspondent that "it is Russia that has escalated this conflict every step of the way, not NATO, not the United States."

Stoltenberg will today meet with Secretary of State Antony Blinken and engage with Senators. Tomorrow he will travel to Ottawa to meet with Canadian PM Justin Trudeau. He will return to Washington D.C. on Thursday to meet with National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and members of the U.S. Congress.