Rutte: NATO Will Continue To Support Ukraine Despite Russian Actions

NATO Secretary General commented on airspace violations by Russian fighter jets and drones.

If the goal of Russian violations of NATO countries' airspace is to get Western allies to withdraw their support for Ukraine, Russia will not succeed in achieving that goal. That was the statement made by NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte after a North Atlantic Council meeting in Brussels on Tuesday when he spoke.

The meeting was convened at the initiative of Estonia, which invoked the North Atlantic Treaty's fourth article on consultations after Tallinn and its allies claimed Russian fighter jets had flagrantly violated Estonian airspace on Sept. 19. Earlier, the same consultations were held at Poland's request, following the alleged intrusion of Russian drones into its airspace.

Rutte repeated several times that he did not yet know whether Russia's actions were intentional or the result of "gross incompetence." Either way, he said, Russia must stop such actions. The NATO secretary general emphasized, repeating a well-known formula, that allies are ready to "defend every inch of territory" of NATO countries.

He also praised NATO aviation for its "decisive actions" that resulted in Russian fighter jets leaving the skies over Estonia, while noting that the Russian planes did not pose an immediate threat.

Rutte also responded to a question about whether the planes would be shot down if incidents like the recent ones were repeated. According to the NATO secretary general, the decision to do so would be based on available intelligence information about the level of threat posed by a particular aircraft or drone. Earlier, representatives of a number of NATO countries called for shooting down Russian planes in case of new gross violations on their part.

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