Joint press point

Thank you so much Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Venizelos. It's great to be here and to continue our cooperation.
Let me start by thanking Greece for your  unwavering support for NATO.

I have just seen your service men and women in action at sea. They play a vital role in keeping Greece safe. In keeping Allies safe.  And in keeping NATO strong.  Your forces also play an important role in Kosovo and in our mission in Afghanistan.

And we are really grateful for Greece’s contribution to our security in the Mediterranean region, particularly in our Operation Active Endeavour.

Today we have discussed a wide range of issues and we also addressed the serious security challenges we face to the south and in Eastern Europe.

We welcome the decisive action against the terrorist group ISIL taken by the international coalition, including Greece and many NATO Allies and partners. Extremism is fueling violent instability throughout the Middle East. And it can export terrorism to our nations.

We call on Russia to end its destabilising actions in Ukraine. To withdraw its forces from Ukraine.  And to make genuine efforts to ensure the ceasefire is respected. The planned holding of so-called elections by armed separatists in eastern Ukraine would undermine the Minsk agreements and would not contribute to a peaceful solution.

These different challenges in our neighbourhood make clear why we need a strong NATO. 

We are working to turn the decisions we made at our Wales Summit into reality. And one of those key decisions is the Readiness Action Plan. This will make our forces more agile. And able to deploy quickly whenever and wherever threats emerge.

So I know I can count on Greece and that Greece is a staunch and strong Ally. Thank you.

JENS STOLTENBERG (NATO Secretary General): (...) And I appreciate very much to have this sort of opportunity to discuss this and many other important issues with you.  Thank you!

MODERATOR:  (INAUDIBLE)

Q: (SPEAKS IN GREEK)

MODERATOR:  You should...

Q:  (SPEAKS IN GREEK)

JENS STOLTENBERG:  I urge all parties to show restraint and to focus on what is the important challenges we are really facing as an alliance. And that is the threats coming from the South, from the instability we see in Iraq and in Syria and also the more aggressive policies we have seen from Russia. 

And therefore I think it's even more important then...  before that, we are able to stay united within the NATO Alliance, all Allies; and that we are able to give a firm and clear answer to the  threats -  the challenges we see coming from outside NATO. And therefore, I urge all to show restraints in this region to avoid any tensions between NATO Allies. 

Q:  (SPEAKS IN GREEK)

EVANGELOS VENIZELOS (Minister of Foreign Affairs of Greece):  (SPEAKS IN GREEK)                                                                             

JENS STOLTENBERG:  First, I would like to underline that what we saw yesterday just confirms a pattern that we have seen during the last year. That is a pattern with an increased air activity by the Russian air force along NATO's borders.  We have seen increased air activity by Russia.  But NATO remains vigilant and ready to respond. So the numbers of intercepts by NATO aircraft to intercept Russian aircrafts have also increased substantially.

Actually, doing last year... so far this year, it has been over 100 intercepts of Russian aircrafts.  And that's more than three times as much as we had during the whole of last year.  So we have seen a substantial increase.  But we are doing what we are supposed to do.  We intercept.  We are ready. And we react. 

We are not in a Cold War situation.  But the behaviour of Russia has undermined a lot of trust and has rolled back very much what we have tried to create as a more cooperative and constructive relationship between Russia and NATO ever since the end of the Cold War and fall the Berlin Wall. 

So we have a very clear message.  And that is that we need to keep NATO strong.  We need to keep our forces ready.  Therefore, we are investing in high readiness, in new capabilities.  We are implementing the Assurance Measures which also means that we are increasing air policing as an answer to the increased air activities we have seen from Russia. 

And this strength is the answer we need to engage with Russia and to be very clear in our answer to the increased military activities we have seen from Russian side during the last months.