RIGA (Reuters) – NATO has a range of options should Russia use force against Ukraine, including economic, financial and political measures, the secretary-general of the Western defence alliance said on Wednesday.
“We have a wide range of options to make sure that Russia will be confronted with serious consequences if they once again use force against an independent sovereign nation, Ukraine,” Jens Stoltenberg told a news conference in Riga, Latvia.
“Everything from economic sanctions, financial sanctions, political restrictions, but also, as we saw after 2014 when they illegally annexed Crimea … that actually triggered the biggest reinforcement of our collective defence since the end of the Cold War.” Stoltenberg was speaking on the sidelines of a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in the capital of the Baltic country.
(Reporting by Sabine Siebold; Writing by John Chalmers)
