Press conference

JENS STOLTENBERG (NATO Secretary General):  Thank you for inviting me here because I really appreciate to be able to meet with you at this unique place, in this unique institution.  The Bundes Press Conference is an expression of a free and independent press. And that's an important part of our democratic societies.  And for me to meet the press is an important part of my responsibilities as the Secretary General of NATO; because I strongly believe that (as) political leaders, we should be available.  We should be someone who are able to address to answer...to discuss with the public and with the press; because that's part of being a democratic society, being an alliance of democratic nations is that we are working with the press to have a transparent and open public debate related to defence and security issues.

Second, I would like to start by stating that what happened in Paris last week reminds us of how important security and defence is; because that was an attack on innocent people. But it was also an attack on the freedom of expression, the freedom of opinion and our open societies.  And it has been important to see how united Europe has stood together in both condemning the acts of terror; but also in defending the open societies we so highly value. 

And... NATO is an alliance of democratic countries defending the same core value that were attacked in Paris last week.  And I think what happened in Paris also underlines that the security environment is changing.  And NATO has to meet and to address new challenges, new threats.  We see that they merge from many different directions.

To the South, we see instability, violence coming closer to our borders in Iraq and Syria.  Iraq and Syria are neighbour countries to a NATO ally, Turkey.  We see the instability in Northern Africa:  chaos, violence close to our borders.  And we see also terrorist attacks linked to the instability, insecurity in these regions. 

So the attacks are also taking place in our streets.  To the East, we see new challenges emerging.  We have seen that the independence, the integrity, the sovereignty of Ukraine has been intimidated, not respected.  And we... And if you add this to a dangerous mix of missile proliferation, cyber-attacks and also energy distortion or destructions, then you see that we are living in a world with threats and challenges which we have to face.

And I would just tell you briefly about how NATO is facing those challenges.  And we are doing that by focussing on three priorities.  Priority number  one is to keep NATO strong, to make sure that NATO also in the future is able to protect and defend all Allies against any threat. 

And that's the reason why we now are adapting our forces so they are more ready and more deployable; so we are sure that we're able to have the right forces in the right place, in the right time when they're needed. 

And Germany is playing a wide role in doing so when we now are in the process of establishing a new High Readiness Force.  We have an interim solution already in place.  Actually, it's going to be established today. 

Today, we have the establishment of an Interim High Readiness Force where Germany is the lead key nation.  And that takes place today.  And that's anticipated and an interim solution for a more permanent High Readiness Force which is important both to meet the challenges to the East and to the South of the Alliance making us able to defend all Allies. 

We have also implemented assurance measures, especially in the East of the Alliance with more air policing, with more exercises and with more presence also...   naval presence in the Baltic Sea and Black Sea.  This will continue as long as it takes, as long as it's necessary. 

Then...  So the first priority is to keep NATO strong.  The second priority is to help keep our neighbourhood stable by working with partners.  It's always nice to help neighbours. But in addition it is in our own interest to help our neighbours be stable, safe and secure. 

So we are working with countries like Moldavia, Georgia and Ukraine to enable them to be better able to take care of their own security in their own region, in their own country, and also helping us with fighting terrorism. 

We do the same in the South, especially with a country like Jordan and other countries where we are working with partnerships, many partnerships in the world trying to increase their capabilities of creating stability in their own country and own region. 

For many years, we also have worked for a more constructive partnership with Russia.  And NATO still strives for a cooperative, constructive relationship with Russia.  NATO does not seek confrontation with Russia.  But if we are going to have a constructive and cooperative relationship with Russia, Russia must want it too.  And then Russia has to respect the fundamental rules of coexistence between nations. And that is that we have to respect the borders of nations. 

And that's important because that's the only way we can really create a cooperative relationship between nations in Europe is that we respect each other and our borders and our sovereignty. 

And I believe that there is no contradiction at all between firmness, military strength and dialogue.  Actually, I believe that the only way that we can achieve the dialogue in a cooperative relationship with Russia we are seeking is that we have a dual track or two track approache: strong defence and dialogue.  And that's... my other message is that we need partnerships with many different countries in many parts of the world that will stabilize our environment.  And that's important for NATO.

The third message is that to be able to both keep NATO strong and to help our neighbours... yes, to help them take care of their own security by themselves.  We need to invest more in defence.  

And for a long period, NATO countries have reduced their defence spending, partly as a result of the end of the Cold War. And I think that was right.  It was a peace dividend that almost all countries benefitted from.  But they continued to cut defence spending because of the financial crisis. 

And in the same period, Russia has increased their defence spending.  And more than that, they have also showed willingness to use force.  So now, the time has come to change. And therefore, we made the decision as 28 Allies at our Summit in NATO, in Wales, in September that we were to stop the cuts in defence spending; that we are going to gradually increase our defence spending as our economies grow; and aim to reach the 2% goal during the next decade for defence spending.

And this is my main message. And this is my main priorities.  And the fundamental thing is that by working together, by protecting each other, by adhering to the fundamental principles of "one for all; all for one" we are able to protect our open, free societies which we so highly value.  Thank you.

MODERATOR:  Thank you.  (Inaudible)

Q:  (Inaudible) Two questions... in the microphone, excuse me.  I'd like to do two questions.  First of all, do you see (inaudible) between the terrorist attacks in Paris and the engagement of French troops in Mali and North of Mali?  Do you think that also Germany we must fear that our engagement for the South and Northern Iraq would also make a situation more difficult in Germany too?  Second question, do you see the North (inaudible)... or do you wish that Ukraine would be a member in NATO?

JENS STOLTENBERG:  When it comes to the terrorist attacks in Paris, I think it's too early to state exactly what kind of connections, who was behind and to what extent this was small isolated groups or part of a larger organization.  But the important thing which I think is important to state is that now the focus has to be that we have to stand up for those values that were attacked.  And the best way of defending our societies against terrorist attack is to be even stronger on the message that we are going to have the freedom of press, open societies so more freedom of press is the best answer to the attack on the free press we saw last week in Paris. 

And when it comes to Mali, I think it's... I'm not able to comment on whether there are any relationships or not.  But I think that we all see that what France is doing in Africa is actually also to fight terrorist organizations.  It's not a NATO operation. But many NATO Allies are participating in different operations against terror organizations, like we can see both in Africa.  Germany is also part of that; but also in fighting ISIL in Iraq and Syria.  And I welcome those efforts to fight these different kinds of terrorist organizations being ISIL or Boko Haram or whatever. 

When it comes to...  You asked me about Ukraine.  So when it comes to Ukraine, I think that it is important to underline that all countries have the right to decide their own path.  And that is a fundamental principle which all countries in Europe, including Russia have subscribed to.  So I will respect the decision of Ukraine. 

Some years ago, they decided to be a non-bloc country.  And I respected that. And I respect if they make another decision.  And whether Ukraine is going to become a member of NATO or not that's a question which is going to be decided by Ukraine and by the 28 Allies within NATO, no one else.  And that should be respected.  And then the Ukraine has underlined itself that it will take some time.  They're now focussing on the process of reforming their society to prepare themselves.  And then we are following that process. 

MODERATOR:  (Inaudible) 

Q: Mister Secretary General, it is often said that NATO is a political alliance.  But it really seems that you and your predecessor  are more or less for the promotion to peace and military (inaudible) relating to the Ukrainian crisis and not completely the political concept.  Could you elaborate a little on that?  And that...  (Inaudible)  Militarily separated. 

And second question what is Europe... what is the relationship to OSCE to NATO defence?  Because there are some experts that are commenting that they would prefer that the OSCE deal with the Ukraine crisis; because it's more useful.  They also have, do you think ……

JENS STOLTENBERG:  NATO is both a political alliance and a military alliance. And actually, the two parts of NATO is working very close together because it's one alliance with both a political and military dimension.  And I think I have said in my introduction that I very much believe in the two-track approach; that we need firmness.  We need a strong military defence to create the basis for a political dialogue.  And just to underline, there is no contradiction between a strong defence and a political dialogue.  Actually, security, strong defence creates the basis for engaging with Russia. 

So for me there is not either political or military alliance, it's both at the same time. And it's an interdependence between the political message and the military message. 

When it comes to OSCE, that's a very important organization.  It's based on some of the core principles which also NATO is based on. And that's the independence and respect for every nation right to decide itself.  That's in the Helsinki Act, in the founding document for OSCE.  And those rules, those fundamental principles are those principles that have been violated in Ukraine.  So there is no contradiction between believing the values that NATO is protecting and the values that the OSCE is based on.  And the OSCE is playing an important role in Ukraine in monitoring the ceasefire and monitoring the whole Minsk Agreement.  The problem is that the Minsk Agreement is not respected. 

There's no military solution to the crisis in Ukraine. It has to be a political solution and negotiated solution.  But we have to enable OSCE to do its work and the Minsk Accord, the ceasefire has to be respected. 

MODERATOR:  (Inaudible)

Q:  A very brief follow up to the military budget question.    Don't you think that the more than $800 billion, the overall sum that NATO has military budgets is not enough to fulfil the Article 5 commitments.

JENS STOLTENBERG:  NATO is a strong alliance.  And NATO is able to protect and defend all Allies.  But what I'm saying is that the security environment is changing and we have to adapt to that.  It's changing partly because we see new threats, terror instability to our South.  That will require a lot of effort from NATO Allies to counter those threats.  And we see also a more aggressive Russia in Ukraine. 

In addition to that we also see more global challenges like for instance the rise of all the powers in all parts of the world.  And we have reduced our defence spending by more than 20%.  Almost around 20% during the last five years.  At the same time, Russia has increased their defence spending.  And more than that, they have showed willingness to use force. 

So what I'm saying is that we are a strong alliance. But to maintain our ability to protect and defend all Allies we have to adapt. And part of that adaptation is also to invest more in defence; because the world has changed. 

MODERATOR:  Populi.

Q:  Mister Stoltenberg, what... I'm doing is an updated information about Russian military equipment and Russian combat troops on the border and even entering Ukraine.  An update...?

JENS STOLTENBERG:  I cannot go into details related to what has happened last few days.  But in general we see that Russia is continuing to support the separatists.  That equipment, force has been... is... is at the border. And also there has been some movements into Ukraine. (BREAK IN TRANSMISSION) Because we are very much aware of... That is a real threat to our societies.  And the problem... or the challenge of foreign fighters has been there for a long time.  But the number of foreign fighters, they have... has increased.  And they're much closer to our borders. 

Afghanistan was, in one way, far away.  Iraq and Syria is very close.  So more focus, more exchange of information related to foreign fighters. Training to enable us to be more able to fight terror; funding of technology which enables us... funding of the development of new technology which increases our capabilities of fighting terror for instance related to technology that can detect explosives and protect us against explosives.  That's something which NATO is working on and doing. 

And then I would like to add a final point. And that is that, you know, the biggest operation NATO has ever conducted is the Afghanistan as an ISAF operation.  That was a counter-terror operation in the way that the reason why we went into Afghanistan was a strong and clear UN mandate; was a direct response on the terrorist attack, 9/11 in the United States. And the main goal of the Afghan NATO operation was to prevent that Afghanistan is a safe haven for terrorist organizations.

We do some... When we fight piracy off the Horn of Africa it's something similar.  So our major military operation is also related to fighting terror.  It was one more.

Q:  ...Question was... I suspect that Russian ...

JENS STOLTENBERG:  Yes, sorry, then I think it's extremely important to underline that now there is an independent investigation going on, organized by the Dutch authorities. 

And I think it's extremely important for the credibility of that investigation that we all, in a way, do not start to speculate too much; but just see that this is a very serious incident where many people were killed.  And what we need is the result of this investigation. And hopefully, they will be able to provide us with a clear answer as possible.  So I would undermine, in a way, the independence... the credibility of that if I start... I now start on behalf of NATO and the Allied countries to try to point out who were responsible.  I leave that to those who are in charge of the independent investigation.

Q:  May I...  (Inaudible) I have one more question I understand that... the very last question.  You don't want to undermine the independent investigation, the Dutch investigation. But on the other hand, we have that kind of journalist experts... investigation in Rome.  So would you say that the sources you have from your very own NATO sources are in contradiction to this aspect of (inaudible) shooting?

JENS STOLTENBERG:  It's a very clever question. And my... Your job is to ask those questions.  And my job is not to answer them.  So we are both doing what we are expected to do.  But again...

MODERATOR:  (Inaudible)

JENS STOLTENBERG:  No, no.  But I mean the thing is that... I think journalists are playing a very important role to look into what happened; to reveal facts; to find out.  But I'm in a position where I'm representing 28 nations.  One of them Holland or the Netherlands!  They are in charge of the national investigation.  And everything I do will be in support of the independence and the credibility of that investigation.  So I would just wait.  But if the journalist or all journalists have some kind of relevant information should just contact the Government of the Netherlands and those people responsible working in the investigation and give the information to them.  And then trust, they will be handled in the best possible way.

MODERATOR: Another.

Q:  Mr Stoltenberg you called, rightly so, NATO, a military and political alliance.  This political alliance is based on democracy with Common Law in use, among those an increased freedom of press, what you mentioned to your answer to the Bundes Press Conference.  If a member State is engaging from these common rules... that no longer respects to them, what will happen for them?  For example, in Turkey, press freedom is under serious pressure.  Are there any (inaudible) within NATO to bring any litigations(?) from countries?  Otherwise, the image of NATO will be in doubt. 

JENS STOLTENBERG:  The most important mechanism within NATO is an open dialogue, an open debate.  And whenever countries have different opinions related to international developments, national developments, policies of different countries we discuss that as Allies. 

I am representing all 28 Allied nations.  But I know that there discussions going on between many nations related to many issues within the Alliance. And that's the strength of an open Alliance... It's that we're also able to address to discuss those issues which are difficult for some of us.  And I trust that... I know that's going on in NATO. 

Q:  Discussing is fine; but to what way …

JENS STOLTENBERG:  But I think that...

Q:  Any mechanism to say:  "Here's the borderline."

JENS STOLTENBERG: All NATO Allies have to adhere to the principles of NATO which is democracy and open, free societies.  And part of that is also to have open discussions.  And I believe that arguments, discussions, openness, transparency, both by governments but also by journalists, the media is, what I say, creating the pressure we all need to make sure that you always strive for openness and the freedom of openness.

MODERATOR:  (Inaudible) number now... (Inaudible) Yes.

Q: Hello! There now appears to be a claim of responsibility by al-Qaeda in Yemen for the shootings in Paris last week.  So far, the last time a NATO Ally experienced an act of terror , a named group in a foreign State was Afghanistan in September 11^th before you mentioned.  When you're going to anticipate what you think should be the response of NATO; if it turns out that al-Qaeda in Yemen was responsible for the Charlie Hebdo attacks?

JENS STOLTENBERG:  I think it would be wrong of me to start to speculate what could be the answer.  I think we now have to wait to see to see the final results of the investigations and the work the French police and the French authorities are doing relating to the background for the terrorist attacks in Paris and then make our judgements and assessments afterwards.  Because if I now start to speculate, I think it just can create a lot of confusion!  This is very serious.  We have to address it in a very serious way. And that's the reason why we have to keep to the rules and not start to speculate before we have the facts on the table.

MODERATOR:  In German.

Q:  Here I am (laughter). You mentioned in your introductory remarks the High Readiness Interim Force.  Actually, what we have today is to transfer authority  to reference of the sovereignty to the headquarters in Finland do not get a deployable force?  What NATO foresees in any way an operational? And there has been some debate about the funding of offices, High Readiness borders as well as the VJTF?  Do you foresee any common funding for these rather expensive times?

JENS STOLTENBERG:  Yes, first to the last question related to funding.  We have not decided the precise size composition of the force.  We are in the process of doing that.  But normally, it will be a combination of some common funding, meaning funded out of the NATO budget and also then funded by the participating nations.  So the cost relates with it for...  And I think that's in the way the most probable solution also this time: a combination of common funding and national funding. 

In the long run, it's always all the Allies who pay in one or another.  There's no way we get...  We have to pay one way or another but either as individual nations or through the NATO budget.  But the final decisions have not yet been taken.

The other question... actually I didn't understand.

Q:  Well, you said that as of today we have a different interim hybrid...

JENS STOLTENBERG:  Yes.

Q: ... to detect.  We do have a (inaudible) command to coordinate. But we have no... or NATO has no permanent hybrid task force yet effectively.  When do you expect that this tool can be deployable, useable in that way?

JENS STOLTENBERG: We are going to address that question at the NATO Ministerial Meeting in the beginning of February in a few weeks.  I will be able to perhaps be more precise on exactly when we will have this more permanent High Readiness Force in place.  But as I said, from today, we have an interim solution phase which is of great importance.  And there's full focus on establishing the more... or the permanent full-fledged High Readiness Force.  So we expect that to happen as soon as possible. But I think it's too early for me to give you an exact date.  But hopefully, I can tell you more within a few weeks when we'll have the defence ministerial meeting in Brussels. 

Q:  I see from a photo op that... I don't understand why you say we have this interim solution in place as what we have, as of today, is a headquarters hybrid.  Is that possible?  Not a task (inaudible)?

JENS STOLTENBERG:  No... no, no. 

Q:  I'm wrong.

JENS STOLTENBERG:  Yes. 

Q:  Corrections.

JENS STOLTENBERG:  No, we have the force.  It's Germany which have allocated forces not only...  There's a headquarter in Szczecin I think, a multinational headquarter North-East. That's already there. But then we also have forces which are available operational now from today. And that's partly German forces together with Dutch forces and regional forces and some others. And from today, they are operational. They are in place. So we have this interim solution. That's the land component as you rightly said.  And we are working also on the other components. And we are working on a more permanent solution.  And the idea with the permanent solution is partly that it's going to be a bit bigger or big under the interim solution. And it's going to have an even higher readiness. But we have a force with high readiness in place, from today.

MODERATOR:  (Inaudible)

Q:  And this base then...  to what extent here...?

JENS STOLTENBERG:  Never.

Q:  To extent is it damaged or can be damaged as part of... against terrorism, about the fact that NATO and Russia are not getting along so well?  So in other words, what could Russia do... to ... these commandments? 

JENS STOLTENBERG:  What we call Russia to respect its international obligations.  And the most fundamental international obligation of Russia, as all other countries in Europe, have is to respect their neighbours. And "respect their neighbours" means respect the borders of the neighbours, not violating their territorial integrity and sovereignty by using force or by supporting the separatists.  And that's the most important thing they can do partly to contribute to a peaceful solution of the conflict in Ukraine which is important for all the people living in Ukraine. But it is also important because it will contribute to a rule-based order in Europe which then will enable us to have much more cooperation on many different areas.  And again, we are striving for that cooperative relationship.  And let me add just briefly that I was President of Norway for some years. And we had a good working relationship with Russia. And we were able to cooperate with Russia in many different fields. And I think that the experience I had from Norway is that there is, as I said, no contradiction between strength and cooperation.  Actually, it goes hand in hand.

Q:  Let me... (inaudible) that present threat with this terrorism, if there is terrorism, what  can be expected from Russia? (Inaudible) beyond that?

JENS STOLTENBERG:  Terrorism is an international problem posing threats on countries all over the world including Russia.  And NATO and Russia had for some years cooperation on fighting terror.  This cooperation is now suspended because of the crisis in Ukraine. But as I said, we strive for re-establishing this kind of cooperation; because I think it's of mutual benefit both for Russia and for NATO. 

MODERATOR: A couple of questions remaining; but we have to come to an end.  Last question: SDSE(?).

Q:  One last question he would like to answer, Mister Stoltenberg.  I was... in full respect that you do not want to undermine  the Netherlands Investigation; but in case the Dutch investigators from its certain tracks ask NATO if you've got any evidence, any information on these famous... of the field released suspects, would you be willing to hand over your information on the investigation?

JENS STOLTENBERG:  We will do whatever we can to support the investigators and to support the ongoing investigation.  And we also urge all Allied countries, all NATO members to do the same.  And I'm certain that those who are responsible for the investigation they are working closely with several Allies and look into whether they have information which is of relevance of the investigation.  And I also welcome information from journalists, from independent sources. But the thing is if I start to say I believe this, I believe that, drawing conclusions too early, and it is so important, for me, that when the result is in place, then it should be respected by everyone.  And it should be a result of a very high credibility.