The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)-Russia Committee, which was held for the first time since 2019, ended in about four hours. NATO allies, including the United States, reaffirmed the so-called ‘open policy’ with one voice.
Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman held a live online press conference at NATO headquarters on Sunday (local time) to announce the end of the meeting, saying that “the NATO allies have expressed a fully united voice in support of an important set of international principles.”
The press conference was originally scheduled to start at 8:45 am local time (10:45 pm in Korea), but it started at 9:30 am, about an hour later. This is because the NATO-Russia committee meeting went on for about an hour longer than planned.
“Today’s meeting lasted almost four hours,” said Deputy Secretary Sherman. Deputy Secretary Sherman said at the meeting that each country should be able to set its own foreign policy direction and affirmed the principle that territorial integrity is inviolable.
“Every country should be free to choose its allies,” Sherman said. This is a reiteration of Russia’s position that it opposes Russia’s claim to ban access to NATO, a country in the Soviet Union, such as Ukraine.
“The United States and its NATO allies have made it clear that they will not close the door to NATO’s openness policy,” he said. “NATO is a defensive ally,” he said.
“NATO exists to protect its member states. “NATO has never expanded by force, coercion or destruction,” he said.
He also talked about escalating tensions along the Ukrainian border. “Russia has mobilized more than 100,000 troops at the border with Ukraine,” Sherman said.
“(This) is not true,” he said, adding, “It was Russia that invaded Ukraine in 2014.” He also pointed out that Russia’s current actions are triggering a crisis not only in Ukraine, but also in Europe and the United States.
Deputy Secretary of State Sherman, reiterating the warning that an invasion of Ukraine would be very costly, said, “It is Russia that has to make a sober choice between ‘relaxation and diplomacy’ or ‘confrontation and outcome’, and hopes for a choice of peace and security. .
[워싱턴=뉴시스]
