Commenting on reports on Turkey’s purchase of Russia’s S-400 air defense missile systems, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that each NATO member state makes its own decision on the purchase of weapons.
“It’s up to each and every individual ally to decide what kind of equipment they acquire. This is a national Turkish decision. What is important for NATO is that our different systems are working together, that we have what we call interoperability. For this system, there has been no request for integrating it into the NATO air defense system. So that has not been on the table,” Stoltenberg said.
According to Stoltenberg, NATO has intensified monitoring the development of nuclear weapons and missiles by North Korea as well as the situation in the region.
“We have stepped up our analysis, our monitoring of the situation in the region of the development of nuclear weapons and missiles in North Korea. We are enhancing our cooperation with partners in the region, especially South Korea and Japan. We have had several meetings with our partners in NATO over the last months,” Stoltenberg said.
He also welcomed the approval by the UN Security Council of new sanctions against North Korea.
On Monday, the UN Security Council unanimously adopted its toughest resolution yet against North Korea over its latest nuclear test and repeated missile launches. Resolution 2375 restricts oil exports to Pyongyang, bans imports of textile products from the Asian nation as well as the country’s access to gas liquids among other restrictions.
Source: Sputnik
