OREANDA-NEWS. NATO should strive to improve relations with Russia, but not to the detriment of its principles and security. This was stated by Secretary General of the Alliance Jens Stoltenberg in an interview published on Wednesday, the French newspaper.

“We need restraint, defense and dialogue,” he said. “And there is no contradiction between being strong and firm and offering dialogue”. “On the contrary, while we are firm and united, we can begin a political dialogue with Russia,” Stoltenberg specified. “I firmly believe that we should strive to improve relations with Moscow; but we can't sacrifice our principles or our security”.

Commenting on the reunification of Crimea with Russia, the Secretary General of the alliance recalled that "Crimea is not part of NATO". “We deployed troops on our borders so that it is clear, without any doubt or risk of misunderstanding: we will never accept a repeat of the situation with Crimea in the NATO country”, said Stoltenberg. “If any NATO ally is attacked, the whole alliance will respond".