German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has warned Russian leader Vladimir Putin that NATO will defend every inch of its territory if necessary, reports Reuters.
As Scholz said at the East German Economic Forum, Germany is currently playing a leading role in NATO's presence in the Baltic region on the border with Russia.
“And because the threat from Russia will continue, we and other allies decided last year to deploy additional units to the Baltic states and to station an entire brigade there permanently in future. But this turnaround in security policy is necessary to show Russia: We are prepared to defend every square inch of NATO territory against attacks,” the German Chancellor emphasized.
He added that diplomacy can only succeed from a position of strength. Therefore, according to Scholz, it is extremely important that the Baltic states can fully rely on NATO allies to rush to their defense in the event of a Russian attack.
“And that is a message for us. But it is also a message to Russia. Because the credibility of this promise is of course also part of Russia's calculation,” Scholz said.
Russian provocations against NATO
In May, the Russian Defense Ministry proposed that the Russian government unilaterally “change” the maritime borders with Lithuania and Finland in the Baltic Sea. After the document was publicized, it disappeared from the Russian government's website.
Russian provocations did not stop there, and the Russians removed Estonian fairway buoys on the Narva River, which flows along the border between Russia and Estonia.
As President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned, by doing so, Russia is signaling that it may commit aggressive provocations in the Baltic region.
