NATO to step up practical support to Ukraine, Georgia - Stoltenberg
He said this at an online press conference following the second day of meetings of the NATO foreign ministers, according to an Ukrinform correspondent.
"Georgia and Ukraine are valued NATO partners. Who make important contributions to our missions. Today, we restated our support for the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Georgia and Ukraine. We discussed their reform programmes. And we are stepping up our practical support. I am pleased that Allies and Georgia approved the updated Substantial NATO-Georgia Package. Stepping up our political support. And Ministers agreed further steps to improve our situational awareness in the region and strengthen our dialogue with both partners," Stoltenberg said.
According to him, the foreign ministers of Georgia and Ukraine joined the meeting of NATO ministers on December 2.
"We addressed the security situation in the Black Sea region, which is of strategic importance. Russia continues to violate the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia and Ukraine. It continues its military build-up in Crimea. And increasingly deploys forces in the Black sea region. NATO is responding by strengthening our presence on land, at sea and in the air," Stoltenberg said.
He recalled that last week, NATO aircraft trained together with the U.S. navy destroyer – the USS Donald Cook – in the Black Sea. This has been part of NATO's efforts to increase its presence in the region for several years, he said.
"We have to remember that not only do we have two valued partners in the Black Sea Region, Georgia and Ukraine, and we work with them, we have, of course, as you said, port visits, we have more training, we have capacity-building, we help them to build their defence institutions. Partly this is within the NATO framework, but we, NATO, also urge Allies to provide bilateral support and several Allies, like, for instance, Canada, the United States and many other Allies provide bilateral support. And when NATO Allies provide bilateral support to countries like Georgia and Ukraine, of course, it matters for these countries and is part of the overall NATO efforts in this region," Stoltenberg said.
According to him, the message from NATO "was very clear that Allies are ready to further step up in different areas, providing more practical support [to Ukraine and Georgia]."
