Interviewed on “Meet the Press” broadcast on Oct. 2, a nervous NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg responded to a question about President Putin’s comments warning that Russia would defend the newly acquired territories “with all possible means,” which commentators have assumed means possible use of nuclear weapons. Stoltenberg simply replied that any talk of using nuclear weapons in this conflict was “dangerous” and “reckless,” and that any use of them would “change the nature of the conflict.” He reiterated that a nuclear war “cannot and should not be fought.”
On the question of Ukraine and NATO, moderator Chuck Todd noted that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had “fast-tracked” its NATO application. Todd asked whether NATO was also “fast-tracking” Ukraine’s application? Stoltenberg replied that each country has the right to decide what defense alliance it would like to join, but that any decision would have to be unanimous by all 30 NATO members.
