For Secretary Stoltenberg.
What impact does
Naito expect the Wagner
events to have on the battlefield
in Ukraine?
And German Minister Pistorius
I was just ask
why did Germany change its decision
about having permanent troops
based in Lithuania?
Was this at all
tied to the Faulkner
events over the weekend,
or was this in motion already before?
Thank you.
I think what we're seeing in Russia
over the last days
demonstrates
the fragility of the German regime
and of course of this
social weakness of the regime
when there are
so lots of German regimes.
Oh, sorry, the Russian
I'm sorry,
they're quite stable at the moment.
So we see that the weakness of the
of the rest of the team
and it also demonstrates
how how difficult and dangerous this for
President Putin
to be reliant on mercenaries
that have actually turned against him.
And it also demonstrates that
it is hard
to predict exactly
what will now happen
in the next days and weeks.
But we should not make the mistakes
that we are underestimating the Russians.
So we need to continue to provide
support to Ukraine
And that's exactly what,
Nathan, that our allies are doing with
military support,
but also support for the long term
and that's in a way
what we can say today about the effects
on the battlefield in Ukraine.
That's NATO's need to react in any way
on the recent developments in Russia.
But President Nauseda, for example,
suggested yesterday to strengthen
the eastern flank of NATO Right now,
if the volcano troops
will settle in Belarus,
is that an option
from your point of view?
Or are there any consequences
for the NATO-Russia founding act?
And my second question to you would be
what message goes out from the
permanent deployment
of the German brigade
that was announced by Minister
Pistorius today?
What message goes out to Mr.
Putin and Mr.
Lukashenko from the deployment
and the Sunosi question
on the brigade to the.
The condition is that Lithuania
builds the infrastructure
for the brigade.
And by when will that be finished?
Let me start by saying that we,
of course, very much
welcome the German leadership,
which has been demonstrated
throughout actually a long time.
But it's very much
enhanced by the German announcement today
because Germany led the battle group.
But also more German troops deployed here
shows a strong German commitment
to our collective defense,
to our shared security.
And it's part of the adaptation of NATO's
which has taken place since 2014
with higher readiness of forces,
but also with more
deployments of combat troops
in the eastern part of the lines
including the battlegroups.
And one of them is
that German led group here in Lithuania.
So this demonstrates
German leadership,
German commitment
to our trans-Atlantic bond.
And it also demonstrates
the value of
a multilateral NATO commitment
to a country like Lithuania.
It sends of course a message
our presence here
and also the exercise
we just watched of NATO's readiness
and the NATO's capability
to defend every inch of NATO's territory.
And the reason we do that is,
of course, not to provoke a conflict,
but it is to prevent the conflict,
because credible deterrence
is about preventing war.
It's about preventing conflict
is it's about preventing
an attack and preserving peace.
And this is not only about
the forward presence, which is important,
but it's also about
pre-positioned equipment,
supplies, high readiness and exercises.
So it's all of this together,
but also by significant
air and naval power
and that also fits
into the issue of air defense,
I think,
of course, Land-based
air defense systems are important,
but we have to understand that
when we now
have this rotational model in place
for air defense,
which can make it easier for us
to switch from air
policing to air defense,
air forces is also part of air
defense and naval forces can also provide
significant air
defense capabilities
on very short notice.
So
this is the general announcement.
This is welcomed under, under,
and it's part of a pattern
big adaptation of NATO,
and that has taken place
over several years.
One more thing about this
is that
we will also make important decisions
at the Vilnius and summit on
on the new force structure, the new
force model, and also
with plans that will
dedicate specific forces
to protect specific territories.
This is the first time
since of the Cold War
where we are going to have
plans linked
to specific forces
to protect specific territories.
Then the first question also
yeah.
Well, first of all,
I think it's a bit early to say exactly,
because I things might still evolve.
Second, we are, of course,
monitoring very closely
and and we are able to react quickly
if there is a need at the same time,
I think it is important to remind
you all that this is about internal
Russian matters and and therefore
what NATO's focused on
is to support Ukraine.
It demonstrates
the fragility of the Russian team,
but it's not for NATO's in intervene
in those issues.
That's a Russian matter.
What matters for NATO
is to not be intimidated, not be
prevented from
continue to provide
unprecedented support for Ukraine
and also, of course,
to have the necessary
deterrence on defense.
We have that already.
We have increased our presence
over the years.
And with the German announcement
here, yet
another example of how
allies are increasing their presence.
But again,
it's not only about
presence, it's
also about the ability
to have early warning indications
and then react quickly if is a need.
And this exercise
demonstrates exactly that.
Let's speak to Nic Robertson.
He's having to juggle all of this.
And it's so fast moving.
And you can see that when Stoltenberg
is speaking,
the sensitivities here,
because they regard it
as an internal Russian matter
but they do feel obviously
they have to monitor
what happens in terms
of how it might affect Ukraine.
And that was one of the questions
that was asked.
And I think his point was in particular,
don't underestimate Russia.
That's the key thing.
We need to keep supporting Ukraine.
And the questions were involved.
Will Prigozhin
essentially in Belarus pose
a bigger threat to NATO?
Because when he bring his forces
there, these
these are unknowns,
although that seems very unlikely
What's interesting here
is this disposition.
You just put NATO's disposition
of additional
air assets on the eastern flank.
And I was recently covering
the NATO's air defender exercise,
where it was all about
training different pilots
from different countries together.
But the commander,
the German
commander in charge of that, said
one of the big takeaways
from watching
the way
Russia fights the war in Ukraine
is control of airspace.
And what you heard Secretary
General Stoltenberg speak about there
was the importance of,
again,
being able to control that airspace.
It's clear
that NATO
sees the way that the war is being
fought in Ukraine
and is stepping up its ability to deal
with an overseas spill
the way that Russia's fighting it
with missiles, with drones.
That's what these fighter aircraft
could this turn from policing
to defense of NATO's
would find themselves doing.
But yes, in the context of
the Wagner situation over the weekend.
I don't
think NATO's or anyone else
is taking their eye off the ball
but the diplomatic message
from Stoltenberg,
the same as we've heard
from the State Department
and from others,
this shows the fragility
of the Russian leadership.
But don't think that it's going to change
anything on the ground
immediately in Ukraine.
We've had some video from Putin today.
We've had some video
of the defense minister
out there on the front lines as well.
We don't know
where either of them were filmed,
but this is how they're messaging right
now, isn't it,
that we are still in control?
And, you know,
in terms of the defense minister,
very interesting because that's the guy
the because you wanted to get rid of.
But they're saying he's here
almost saying he's still here.
They're not saying the how long
is going to be around for.
Yes, absolutely.
Look,
this is the Kremlin messaging saying
nothing to see here, folks.
Move on, lifting the security,
strict restriction in Moscow,
which was severe,
there was going to be
no going to work on Monday
and there were going
to be no public events
until the beginning of July.
So all of that's gone
it's
the Kremlin is taking the attitude of
it appears at least said, let's move on.
Partly because look,
what Prigozhin did here was
will show
that there is a big
public support
for how people feel
that the war is being badly
fought, that you know,
this has been a big part
of promotions narrative.
And he got a lot
of support on the street.
And that's a very dangerous
has been a very dangerous conversation
for Putin
to allow to grow in the country.
So that's 11 reason
why Putin
wants to pretend everything's okay
and move along
and just refocus on the fight.
And the other is,
of course,
that there's this huge turmoil
going on behind the scenes
within Putin's own inner circle.
And he hasn't handled that as well
or as strongly as he has in the past
is allowed it
to come on the streets
and jeopardize
the safety of the Russian citizens.
And if there is one thing
that the Russian citizens
sort of understand
in their relationship
with Putin is
you can lie and cheat to us
as much as you like,
but just give us security
and safety and stability
in our own country. His tenure as leader
becomes more
fragile in this new environment.
So absolutely,
the Kremlin is trying to portray
whenever this video of Putin was shot
is trying to portray.
I know, folks, you know, we're moving on.
That's all.
Okay, Nick, thank you very much indeed.