NATO Secretary General Says Relations Between Russia and West Have Been Forever Destroyed
Jose Nino
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During comments made on December 12, 2022, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said that even if the Russo-Ukrainian War were to come to a brisk end, NATO-Russia relations would be irreparably damaged. He even described Russo-NATO relations in the bluntest of terms, declaring that those relations have been “destroyed.”
“Even if the fighting ends, we will not return to some kind of normal, friendly, relationship with Russia. Trust has been destroyed,” he stated. “I think the war has had long-lasting consequences for the relationship with Russia,” Stoltenberg proclaimed.
Before his blunt comments, Stoltenberg claimed that NATO was trying to pursue constructive relations with Russia. Tyler Durden of ZeroHedge noted that NATO’s actions — specifically NATO expansion along Russia’s historical sphere of influence — told a different story.
Though Stoltenberg said that Russia could restore a bit of the prior “trust” that had evaporated after the invasion.
“They [Russia] can do as many other European countries have done since the end of the Second World War, they can choose peace, choose cooperation, choose to trust their neighbors instead of always being so aggressive and threatening neighbors as Russia has done again and again against Georgia, against Ukraine,” Stoltenberg declared.
On the same day that Stoltenberg talked about Russo-NATO relations, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz declared that relations with Russia were not completely destroyed or beyond repair.
Scholz suggested that economic relations could be restored once the dust settles from the Russo-Ukrainian conflict. “At the moment, the relations we have are being reduced, reduced, reduced,” he said per a Reuters report. He stressed that “a Russia that ends the war” should be allowed to restore economic ties.
It remains to be seen if tensions between Russia and the West will be dialed down. Ultimately, it will come down to the United States and United Kingdom — two of the most fanatically anti-Russia countries within NATO — abandoning their crusade against Russia and exercising some degree of realism. Unfortunately, these countries have deeply ingrained anti-Russia sentiments and a divide-and-rule fetish that makes them incapable of recalibrating relations with Russia. For geopolitical tinkerers in Washington and London, a Russia that’s integrated with the European continent along economic and political lines is a nightmare scenario.
For that reason, tensions against Russia must continue to mount.
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