Russia makes demands that it knows NATO cannot fulfill, Stoltenberg says

[February 19, 2022]    MUNICH (Reuters) - Moscow is confronting NATO with demands it knows the alliance cannot meet, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Saturday.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg speaks during a meeting with U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris at the Munich Security Conference, in Munich, Germany, February 18, 2022. AP Photo/Andrew Harnik/Pool via REUTERS

"The danger is now the combination of this massive military build-up with the very threatening rhetoric, putting forward demands they know we cannot meet and say: If we don't meet them, there will be military consequences," Stoltenberg told the Munich Security Conference.

"This is a new normal, that we have a Russia which is openly contesting core values for European security and then demonstrating their will to use force or the threat of force to get their will," he added.

(Reporting by Robin Emmott and Sabine Siebold)

[© 2022 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.  Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.