REPLAY: NATO chief holds press conference ahead of Vilnius summit
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00:00 Go live to Brussels where the Secretary General of NATO Jens Stoltenberg giving a press conference
00:05 ahead of the key summit next week in Lithuania.
00:08 Let's listen in.
00:09 Send a clear message.
00:11 NATO stands united and Russia's aggression will not pay.
00:17 At the summit, we will make Ukraine even more stronger and set out a vision for its future.
00:25 I expect Allied leaders will agree a package with three elements to bring Ukraine closer
00:32 to NATO.
00:34 First, we will agree a multi-year programme of assistance to ensure full interoperability
00:41 between the Ukrainian Armed Forces and NATO.
00:45 Second, we will upgrade our political ties by establishing the NATO-Ukraine Council.
00:53 And third, I expect Allied leaders will reaffirm that Ukraine will become a member of NATO.
01:02 And unite on how to bring Ukraine closer to its goal.
01:09 Allies have already pledged 500 million euros for critical needs including fuel, medical
01:17 supplies, demining equipment and platoon bridges.
01:21 We will also help build Ukraine's security and defence sector, including with military
01:27 hospitals.
01:28 And we will help Ukraine transition from Soviet era to NATO equipment and standards.
01:38 President Zelensky will join us for the inaugural meeting of the new NATO-Ukraine Council.
01:44 This will be a platform for crisis consultation and decision-making.
01:50 Here we all sit as equals to address shared security concerns.
01:57 At the Summit, we will take further major steps to strengthen our deterrence and defence.
02:03 With three new regional defence plans.
02:07 To counter the two main threats to our Alliance, Russia and terrorism.
02:14 One plan for the North, the Atlantic and the European Arctic.
02:20 One for the centre, covering the Baltic region and Central Europe.
02:25 And a southern plan for the Mediterranean and Black Sea.
02:30 To execute these plans, NATO is putting 300,000 troops on high readiness.
02:37 Including substantial air and naval combat power.
02:43 I expect leaders will endorse a defence production action plan to aggregate demand, boost capacity
02:50 and increase interoperability.
02:54 To do all of this, we need to invest more.
02:58 At the Summit, Allies will set a more ambitious defence investment pledge to invest a minimum
03:05 of 2% of gross domestic product annually on defence.
03:12 Today we are releasing new defence spending estimates.
03:17 In 2023, there will be a real increase of 8.3% across European Allies and Canada.
03:26 This is the biggest increase in decades.
03:29 And the ninth consecutive year of increases in our defence spending.
03:35 So European Allies and Canada will have invested over 450 billion extra US dollars since we
03:44 agreed our defence investment pledge in 2014.
03:50 Then only three Allies spent 2% of GDP on defence.
03:55 This year, 11 Allies reach or exceed the target.
04:01 And we expect this number will rise substantially next year.
04:07 At the Summit, we will be joined by the leaders of Australia, New Zealand, Japan and South
04:12 Korea.
04:14 Because our security is not regional, it is global.
04:16 So we are working more closely on issues such as cyber security, maritime security and new
04:23 technologies.
04:24 We will also welcome the European Union to Vilnius.
04:29 Our partnership has reached unprecedented levels.
04:33 And we are committed to doing even more together.
04:37 This will be Finland's first Summit as a NATO Ally.
04:41 And we look forward to Sweden joining as soon as possible.
04:46 Yesterday I hosted a constructive meeting of senior officials from Turkey, Sweden and
04:51 Finland.
04:52 And as the next step, I will meet with President Erdogan and Prime Minister Kristosson in Vilnius
04:59 on Monday afternoon.
05:02 For almost 75 years, NATO has been the strongest Alliance in history.
05:08 The decisions we will take at the Vilnius Summit will ensure we continue to protect
05:13 our people and our values.
05:16 With that, I'm ready to take your questions.
05:18 Okay, we'll start with Lithuanian TV here.
05:22 Mindaugas Lukagelis from Lithuania National Radio and Television.
05:25 Thank you for this opportunity.
05:27 I have two questions.
05:28 The first one is Ukraine is calling 2008 Bucharest declaration a historic mistake.
05:36 How Vilnius declaration will be different from that?
05:39 Because in 2008, the leader said that Ukraine will become a NATO member.
05:44 And it seems that you're going to repeat this in 2023.
05:47 So what's the difference?
05:49 And the other question is, have you heard something from President Zelensky?
05:53 Will he participate in the summit?
05:55 Thank you.
05:56 There are many differences.
06:00 One important difference is, of course, that Ukraine has come much closer to NATO, because
06:05 NATO Allies have worked closely with Ukraine for many years, especially since 2014.
06:11 So this has ensured a much higher level of cooperation and interoperability between Ukraine
06:19 and NATO.
06:21 And we will also, I expect also that leaders when they meet in Vilnius, they will also
06:27 agree a package that will help to move Ukraine even closer to NATO, partly by establishing
06:34 the NATO-Ukraine Council, which is a political platform where we can have crisis consultations
06:40 and also actually make decisions together and deepen our political cooperation.
06:47 The practical support, not least a multi-year programme, also has a clear political dimension,
06:54 because by agreeing to stand by Ukraine and also help them for a longer term and to ensure
07:00 full interoperability with NATO, we are helping Ukraine to come even closer to NATO and NATO
07:09 membership.
07:11 And then finally, I am confident that we'll find a united way also to address the specific
07:17 issue on membership, but I will not go into the details of exact language now, because
07:25 that is something we will announce when everything is in place by the summit.
07:31 I look forward to welcoming President Zelensky at the summit and to have him taking part
07:40 in the first or the inaugural meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Council.
07:45 Oana Lungescu [NATO Spokesperson]: Okay, ZDF.
07:50 Question [ZDF]: Thank you very much.
07:52 Florian Neuhan from ZDF German TV.
07:54 Mr Stoltenberg, first question would be, the US is actively considering, it says, to send
08:00 cluster munitions to Ukraine, which are banned from more than 120 states.
08:06 From a military point of view, do you think this is a good idea?
08:08 Does Ukraine need such munitions?
08:11 And from a political point of view, do you think it's wise to send weapons, munitions
08:15 that are banned for good reasons?
08:17 Jens Stoltenberg [NATO Secretary General]: NATO as an alliance do not have a position
08:23 on the Convention on Cluster Munition, because a number of Allies have signed the Convention,
08:33 but a number of Allies have not signed the Convention.
08:38 And it is for individual Allies to make decisions on the delivery of weapons and military supplies
08:48 to Ukraine.
08:51 And so this will be for governments to decide, not for NATO as an alliance.
09:00 We are faced with a brutal war, and we have to remember that this brutality is also reflected
09:09 in the fact that we every day see casualties, and that cluster munitions is used by both
09:17 sides, or cluster munitions are used by both sides.
09:23 And Russia used cluster munitions in their brutal war aggression to invade another country,
09:32 while Ukraine is using it to defend itself.
09:37 The best way to end this brutal war is for President Putin and Russia to stop attacking
09:43 another country.
09:44 That's also the best way to stop all the suffering, the casualties, and the death we
09:52 see caused by different types of weapons on the battlefield every day.
09:56 Oana Lungescu [NATO Spokesperson]: NTV.
09:59 Gül Sonomut [NATO Secretary General]: Secretary General, Gül Sonomut from NTV Turkey.
10:04 The meeting of yesterday with regard to Sweden was rather a kind of icebreaker between the
10:08 Turkish side and the Swedish side.
10:10 They said that it was constructive, however, when we see the statement of the Turkish Minister
10:15 for Foreign Affairs and his Swedish counterpart, there are still a gap.
10:21 So how would you be able to bridge that gap until next Monday?
10:26 And what kind of pressure, because you also call always on Turkey, but what kind of pressure
10:30 you could do on Sweden so that they somehow try to face, or at least release the concerns
10:37 of Turkey?
10:38 Thank you very much.
10:39 Jens Stoltenberg [NATO Secretary General]: For me, I think words like constructive and
10:45 good is better than icebreaker, if I'm going to describe the meeting we had yesterday.
10:50 It was a good meeting, it was a constructive meeting, and we made progress.
10:55 And I'm confident that we'll continue to make progress, but there are still gaps to be bridged.
11:02 And that's also the reason why I have invited President Erdogan and Prime Minister Kristoljan
11:10 to meet on Monday, also in a few days, in Vilnius.
11:18 And we will meet there together, the three of us, with our experts, to sit down and look
11:24 into the details, the concrete issues, and where we see differences between the Swedish
11:30 position and the position of Turkey.
11:33 And then that's the way to overcome differences when they exist, as they now do, in the issue
11:39 related to the final ratification of Swedish accession into NATO.
11:50 My message is that Sweden has delivered, at the same time, on the commitments they made
11:57 in Madrid, in the joint memorandum, at the same time, I'm also very clear that Turkey
12:07 has real security concerns, and that's the reason why we are sitting down and addressing
12:13 them.
12:15 Because we also know that NATO Allies have serious security concerns related to the fact
12:21 that they want to have Sweden in as a front member as soon as possible, and that's not
12:26 at least the case for the Baltic countries that see the great advantage of having Sweden
12:32 as a member.
12:33 So, I strongly believe it will be good for Sweden, it will be good for the Baltic region,
12:38 the Nordic region, and it will be also good for the whole Alliance, including Turkey,
12:42 to have Sweden as a member as soon as possible.
12:45 Interfax, Ukraine.
12:46 Thank you, Anna.
12:49 Irina Sumer, Ukrainian news agency, Interfax, Ukraine.
12:56 I have a follow-up question on Mindaugas regarding declaration.
13:00 I do understand you can't comment on the language which will be in the declaration regarding
13:05 membership, but can you tell us how far or how close Alliance are regarding awarding
13:12 in the declaration regarding possible membership for Ukraine, which also will be satisfactory
13:18 for Kyiv?
13:19 Thank you.
13:20 So, we are, as we always are, head of a NATO summit, now consulting and working on the
13:28 exact language.
13:30 That's the way NATO makes decisions.
13:31 We are 31 Allies, and we also, of course, have close contacts with Ukraine.
13:39 But Allies are now consulting on the exact language in the communiqué.
13:45 I'm confident that we will find a united way forward, including on how to move Ukraine
13:54 forward on its goal to become a member of the Alliance.
14:00 I also expect, as I said, that there will be decisions on concrete support, practical
14:07 support, but that has a dimension also when it comes to the political aspects, because
14:13 more interoperability, a multi-year programme for interoperability between NATO forces and
14:19 Ukrainian forces, helps, of course, Ukraine to move towards NATO.
14:23 And stronger political ties with the NATO-Ukraine Council is also a way to move Ukraine and
14:29 NATO even closer.
14:31 So, the language, the exact wording, will be made public when we have agreed and when
14:41 the statement is endorsed by all the leaders next week.
14:45 But I'm confident that we'll have a message which is clear, and also not only clear, but
14:51 most of all that we have to remember that Allies also agree already on a lot of important
14:57 principles when it comes to Ukraine and membership.
15:00 We agree that NATO's door is open.
15:03 We agree that Ukraine will become a member, which is an important message.
15:09 And then we agree that it's for the NATO Allies and Ukraine to decide when the time is right,
15:17 and not for Russia to have a veto.
15:19 And then the most urgent task, and all Allies agree on that, is that we will stand by Ukraine,
15:25 we will provide support to Ukraine for as long as it takes, because unless Ukraine win
15:32 this war, there's no membership issue to be discussed at all.
15:36 And that's the reason why Allies are stepping up and providing donations, military support,
15:43 in an unprecedented way.