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Roundup: NATO chief reaffirms support for Ukraine, calls for stable relations with Russia

Xinhua, December 2, 2015 Adjust font size:

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Wednesday underlined NATO would continue its political and practical support to Ukraine, and stressed the need to restore predictability in relations with Russia.

Calling the Minsk agreements "the only path to a political solution," Stoltenberg said after the NATO-Ukraine Commission meeting that while there has been some progress in the implementation, "there is a real risk of a resumption of violence."

NATO will continue to help Ukraine in several areas, including modernizing command control, cyber defense and logistics capabilities. "NATO is committed to supporting a peaceful and diplomatic end to the conflict," Stoltenberg added.

He further welcomed Ukraine's commitment to implementing reforms, and urged the country to continue along this path.

"Challenges posed by Russia's actions in the Euro-Atlantic area will be with us for a long time," Stoltenberg said, adding: "We agreed that our priority now is to work to restore predictability in our relations."

He said last week's incident of the Russian jet downing by Turkey highlights the importance "to step up work on transparency and risk reduction" between the two sides.

According to him, increasing openness and transparency concerning military activities is necessary "through intensive efforts to reach agreement next year on a substantive update of the OSCE's Vienna Document."

The meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Commission was the last session in this week's two-day meeting of NATO foreign ministers.

Earlier on Wednesday, NATO foreign ministers invited Montenegro to begin accession talks to become the 29th member of the Alliance. Endit