NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg expressed concern that the fighting in Ukraine could spiral out of control into a war between Russia and NATO, according to an interview broadcast Friday.
"If things go wrong, the situation could escalate further," NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said in comments to Norwegian television NRK.
"The war in Ukraine is terrible and there is a risk that it will turn into a big war between NATO and Russia," he said. "We are working every day to avoid this."
Secretary Stoltenberg, a former prime minister of Norway, said in the interview that "there is no doubt that there is the possibility of a bigger war," adding that it was important to avoid a conflict "that would involve other countries in Europe."
The Kremlin has repeatedly accused NATO allies of effectively becoming a party to the conflict by supplying Ukraine with weapons, training its troops and helping with intelligence to attack Russian forces.
In comments that reflect rising tensions between Russia and the West, President Vladimir Putin suggested that Moscow might consider using what he described as the American concept of a pre-emptive strike.
"If we talk about a disarming strike, maybe it's worth thinking about adopting the ideas developed by our American counterparts, their ideas to ensure their security," he said.
Long before the start of the aggression in Ukraine, the Kremlin had expressed concern about US efforts to develop the Global Immediate Strike capability, which envisages striking an adversary's strategic targets with high-precision conventional weapons anywhere in the world within an hour.