Nato could have done more to prevent Russian invasion of Ukraine, says outgoing chief

Outgoing Nato secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg said: 'There will have to be again dialogue with Russia at a certain stage. Picture: Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press via AP

Nato could have done more to arm Ukraine to try to prevent Russia’s invasion in 2022, the outgoing head of the Western military alliance said in an interview released on Saturday.

“Now we provide military stuff to a war — then we could have provided military stuff to prevent the war,” Nato secretary general Jens Stoltenberg told German weekly newspaper FAS.

Stoltenberg pointed to the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation’s reluctance to provide weapons that Kyiv had asked for before Russia’s full-scale invasion because of fears that tensions with Russia would escalate.

After the war began, Ukraine, which is not a member of Nato, received one weapons system after another from its allies, following some initial hesitation.

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His comments come as Russian forces shelled 15 border areas of Ukraine’s Sumy region a total of 84 times on Friday, killing two people and wounding nine, the regional authority said. The authority, writing on the Telegram messaging app, said two people had died near the town of Yampil, Reuters reported.

Stoltenberg, a former prime minister of Norway, will step down in October from his role at Nato, which he has held since 2014. Dutch former prime minister Mark Rutte was announced in June as the organisation’s next boss.

In the interview, Stoltenberg said an end to the war in Ukraine would be achieved only at the negotiating table.

“To end this war there will have to be again dialogue with Russia at a certain stage," he said. "But it has to be based on Ukrainian strength.”

Stoltenberg declined to confirm that he would take over from German diplomat Christoph Heusgen as chairperson of the Munich Security Conference after leaving Nato. He told FAS he had “many options”, and would reside in Oslo.