“I am really looking forward to getting started and honored to become the Secretary General of NATO” were the opening words of Stoltenberg (second from the left) as he started the Euro-Atlantic Council meeting on October 1. The 55-year-old Norwegian politician has replaced Anders Fogh Rasmussen as head of NATO. He will lead the alliance for the next four years. At his first press conference as general secretary, he confirmed NATO’s unchanging course of strengthening the organization. Stoltenberg said that NATO “must be strong,” and this means that it “must be ready.” He said that concrete proposals for forming the NATO Response Force should be ready by February, providing for a force needing just a few days to prepare for action. He confirmed that NATO would continue to monitor the airspace over the Baltic States and would send ships to the Black Sea. “The crisis in Ukraine has undermined the foundations of the Euro-Atlantic security system. We do not seek confrontation with Russia, but are not going to give up our values either. We will support an independent and sovereign Ukraine. Each nation must decide which way it will go. Russia, for its part, has to adhere to international law and fulfill its obligations,” he stressed.
