Too early to draw conclusions about Prigozhin and his troops' stay in Belarus – Stoltenberg

Jens Stoltenberg, Secretary General of NATO, considers it premature to draw conclusions about the effects of Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin and his troops’ stay in Belarus on the security of the Alliance.

Source: Jens Stoltenberg, Secretary General of NATO, at a press conference on Tuesday in The Hague together with the leaders of several countries of the Alliance.

Quote: "It’s too early to make any final judgement about the consequences of the fact that Prigozhin has moved to Belarus and that most likely also some of his forces will also be located in Belarus. It’s too early to say," Stoltenberg said. 

However, he assured that the Alliance will monitor and guarantee that "NATO is there to protect every ally, every inch of NATO territory," and especially those Alliance members that are border countries with Belarus.

Stoltenberg added that NATO is closely monitoring the development of events.

"We have already increased our readiness, our preparedness and our military presence in the Eastern part of the Alliance. We will make further decisions to further strengthen our collective defence, with more high-readiness forces and with more capabilities to ensure credible deterrence and defence for the whole Alliance. We'll make those decisions at the upcoming NATO summit in just a few days," the NATO Secretary General added.

Background:

• The foreign ministers of two Baltic States on Tuesday called on NATO to strengthen its eastern borders in response to the deployment of the Wagner Group fighters in Belarus.
• Belarus borders three NATO member countries – Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland. The president of the latter, Andrzej Duda, has previously stated that the relocation of Wagner Group to Belarus is a very negative sign for his country.

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!