April 4, 2024 (EIRNS)—NATO’s foreign ministers met in Brussels yesterday, the first day of two days of meetings, and one of the items on the agenda was Stoltenberg’s proposal to move the Ukraine Security Assistance Group to the purview of the alliance. It has been under U.S. control since it was founded at Ramstein in April of 2022. “Today Allies have agreed to move forward with planning for a greater NATO role in coordinating security assistance and training,” Stoltenberg told reporters yesterday. “The details will take shape in the weeks to come, but make no mistake, Ukraine can rely on NATO support now, and for a long haul.”
Jens Stoltenberg would not go into the details, but claimed that he had discussed the plan with the Ukrainian side and that it would be discussed at the NATO-Ukraine meeting. “So yes, we are in dialogue with Ukraine on this because this is actually something that we should do together,” he said.
Back in Washington, the Biden Administration signalled opposition to Stoltenberg’s plan for the alliance to take over the Ramstein group, arguing that it’s a U.S.-dominated group and must remain that way. “It is bigger than NATO, it’s 50 some-odd nations all around the world, including in the Indo-Pacific—and what brought them together was American leadership,” National Security Communications Adviser John Kirby said in yesterday’s call with reporters, reported The Hill. “What’s keeping them together is American leadership.”
Hungary is opposing Stoltenberg’s plan, for more principled reasons. “New proposals have been put forward which unfortunately carry the threat of NATO crossing red lines. And NATO may be closer to this war than ever before. The proposals are for NATO to increase its coordinating role in agreeing [on] arms deliveries and training soldiers in Ukraine,” Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said in a video address, posted on his social media, reported Sputnik. The minister conceded that the vast majority of NATO’s 31 countries agree with this idea. “But we said today that Hungary is not willing [to participate] and will not participate in this,” Szijjarto noted.
He announced: “In the next two days, Hungary will oppose any proposals that may lead to escalation of the hostilities in Ukraine or the imminent threat of a global war. We will not support any proposal that may bring NATO closer to war or transform NATO from the defensive alliance into an offensive one.” Further, he underscored, NATO should stick to its previous decision not to take part in the hostilities in Ukraine and avoid “a direct conflict with Russia.”
