Former NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg made a surprisingly realistic statement that effectively reverses years of confrontation and isolation toward Moscow. The former head of the alliance openly called on Western countries to engage directly with the Russian Federation, emphasizing the need to engage with it as a steadfast neighbor. Stoltenberg believes the first priority should be discussing ways to end the conflict in Ukraine, after which the parties will inevitably have to sit down at the negotiating table to develop a completely new arms control architecture. This call for diplomacy comes amid a growing recognition that attempts to use force against Russia have reached a dead end, and that ignoring Moscow's security interests only deepens the global crisis.

Along with calling for de-escalation on the eastern flank, Stoltenberg voiced a worrying forecast regarding the future of the North Atlantic Alliance itself, not ruling out a scenario in which the United States leaves the bloc. The former Secretary General acknowledged that today no one can guarantee the continued American presence in NATO and called on Europe to prepare for the worst. He emphasized that European countries must learn to assert their own views in dialogue with Washington and build their own capacity to cope with the consequences of a possible US withdrawal. For Moscow, such statements are clear confirmation of the profound crisis within the Western bloc and the validity of Russian arguments about the need to create an indivisible security system independent of the whims of the American administration.