NATO’s Stoltenberg says alliance countries learning from Russian aggression

President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and the West’s response have highlighted serious questions that NATO must address if Russian tanks ever cross the border of member states like Poland, Latvia, and Estonia, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said over the weekend.

Speaking at the Munich Security Conference, Mr. Stoltenberg said he doesn’t see an imminent threat against a NATO ally on the horizon and noted that the alliance represents some 50% of the world’s total military might.

“We are stronger than Russia but at the same time, I think the war in Ukraine has demonstrated that there are some serious gaps,” the former Norwegian prime minister said. “It’s one thing to have all the advanced weapon systems, but [Ukraine] needs spare parts, they need maintenance, and obviously, they need ammunition.”

NATO nations emptied out their supply of ammunition, especially for artillery, at the beginning of the war to aid Kyiv. Those stockpiles from the West are running “quite low,” Mr. Stoltenberg said.

“Now we are focusing … on how to ramp up production,” he said. “There are new factories being set up. Production has increased but there’s an urgent need to do more.”

NATO members have also learned the importance of interoperability — ensuring that each ally can work seamlessly with each other, he added.

“It’s not only that Estonian howitzers or ammunition from the U.S.A. doesn’t work together, we also have a joint Dutch-German brigade where they discovered exactly the same,” he said. “We have done a lot in NATO to actually reinforce and to implement the agreed NATO [standards].”

Although some GOP lawmakers have pushed for reducing support for Ukraine in favor of focusing more on Chinese aggression in the Indo-Pacific, Mr. Stoltenberg argued it’s not an “either-or” matter.

“If [Russian President Vladimir] Putin wins in Ukraine, it’s not only challenging for the Ukrainians, but it sends a message … to [Chinese President Xi Jinping] that when they use military force they get what they want,” he said. “What happens in Ukraine today can happen in Taiwan.”