Jens Stoltenberg

Ukraine's membership "distant future" - NATO chief

MOSCOW -- "Ukraine can only submit an application for joining NATO after it conducts all the necessary reforms," NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has said.

NATO warned about "wrongly assessing" Russian policy

MOSCOW -- Russia "does not want Ukraine to be split up," NATO intelligence officials say, according to the Russian media outlet RT.

They "warned their colleagues against wrongly assessing Moscow's policy on the crisis in eastern Ukraine."

NATO countries and Ukraine strongly condemned on Dec. 2 a Russian military build-up in Crimea, accusing Russia of “deliberate destabilization” of eastern Ukraine.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has voiced his expectations from Turkey to join the economic sanctions campaign against Russia over the Ukrainian crisis.

 His comments come on the day when Russia and Turkey were set to hold talks to increase the trade volume from the current $33 billion to $100 billion by 2020.

NATO chief: Serbia decides on its alliances

BELGRADE -- Serbia is "a sovereign country that makes its own decisions on cooperation with other countries," NATO's secretary general has said.

Ukraine would need at least six years to prepare itself for accession into the European Union and NATO, the country's President Petro Poroshenko declared on Monday.

He added membership would be put forward on a national referendum so that citizens could have the final say.

NATO warned on Nov. 18 of a "very serious" build-up of Russian soldiers and weapons inside Ukraine and on its border as Germany's foreign minister urged Kyiv and Moscow to respect a tattered peace plan.
      
The West is keeping up pressure on Russia over Ukraine following a bad-tempered G20 summit in Australia at the weekend which Russian President Vladimir Putin left early.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has appointed Ambassador Ä°smail Aramaz as the next NATO senior civilian representative (SCR) in Afghanistan, the alliance said in a written statement Nov 17.

Aramaz, who is currently Turkey’s ambassador to Afghanistan, is expected to take up his new post early next year, it added.

EU foreign policy chief: Independent expert for EULEX

BRUSSELS -- Federica Mogherini announced she will enlist an independent expert for a probe into allegations of corruption in the EUrule of law mission in Kosovo (EULEX).

BELGRADE - NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has expressed confidence that KFOR will remain fully committed to implementing its mandate in keeping with UN Security Council Resolution 1244, acting in the interests of all communities in Kosovo.