Alliance Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has said NATO would never accept the withdrawal of its military from countries that have joined the bloc since 1997, as it would make them second-class members of the alliance
“Of course, we also cannot accept that we should not have NATO troops in all those countries that have joined NATO since 1997. This would essentially mean that half of our members would not be able to be protected by NATO troops. Then they would be sort of second-class NATO members, we will never do that”, – he said.
Stoltenberg also added that NATO was ready to discuss arms reduction with Russia.