“Currently, there are no guarantees that Russia will not invade another country after an attack on Ukraine.” Such a statement was made by German Chancellor Olaf Sholts, speaking together with his Swedish and Finnish colleagues at a press conference, Reuters reports.
According to Sholts, in recent decades, Europe took for a given that the boundaries “will no longer move by force and that it is necessary to respect the sovereignty of states.”
“Russia violated this status quo, and therefore no one can argue that Russian President Vladimir Putin will not do this again. That’s why we simultaneously decided that we would expand our defense efforts,” he added, citing an increase Germany financing its armed forces and the decision to allocate 2% of its GDP for defense costs.
He also announced the support of Germany by the adoption of Finland and Sweden in NATO.