Former NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg says the way to change Russian President Vladimir Putin’s mind and bring him to the negotiating table to end the war in Ukraine is to step up military aid to Kyiv.
Speaking in an interview with RFE/RL on November 7, Stoltenberg, who led the alliance for a decade before leaving in October 2024, said that despite “unprecedented” support some NATO countries are not doing all they should to support Kyiv.
While he said he would not “name and shame,” he acknowledged this is “discussed among NATO allies internally.”
His comments come amid stalled US-led diplomatic efforts to get Russia to agree to a cease-fire in Ukraine, where it launched a full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Stoltenberg, who was NATO chief at the time the invasion was launched and is currently Norway’s finance minister, said Putin still believes he can win more on the battlefield than at the negotiating table, meaning his hand must be forced.
“I don’t think we can change Putin’s mind. His aim is to control Ukraine. But I do think we can change Putin’s calculus,” he said.
“And we can do that by stepping up, providing more military support to Ukraine, so Putin realizes that he will not win on the battlefield.”
According to figures compiled by the Kiel Institute in Germany, NATO nations provided some 291 billion euros ($336 billion) of aid to Ukraine between January 2022 and August 2025.
This has included military supplies such as Patriot missile-defense systems, tanks, artillery, and fighter jets, as well as British and French Storm Shadow/SCALP cruise missiles.
But there has been no new major US military aid package since Donald Trump began his second term as US president in January, and European countries have failed to pick up the slack.
“We can always agree that it’s possible to do more,” Stoltenberg said.
“The problem is that not all allies do as much as they should…. I will not name and shame, partly because I don’t think that’s the right approach. I know this is something which is discussed among NATO allies internally,” he added.
Stoltenberg also stressed that since he took up his cabinet position in February this year, Norway had announced it would triple its level of aid to Ukraine to 7 billion euros ($8.1 billion) annually.
“Hardly any other country, if any, provides more support to Ukraine measured against GDP per capita,” he said.
The Threat Of China
While Ukraine is a key test of NATO resolve, Stoltenberg noted wider challenges facing the alliance — above all “China, the size of China, their economy, their technological advances.”
Noting China’s role as “the main enabler” of Russia’s war in Ukraine, through its economic support for Moscow, he said this wider context was a powerful driver keeping the NATO alliance united.
“Questions are asked on both sides of the Atlantic [about] whether we will continue to stand together. But I believe that we will do so,” he said, pointing to the combined economic strength of Europe and the United States and their shared global network of allies.
Washington’s role in Europe’s military defenses is fundamental. But Stoltenberg said mutual defense was not a one-way street.
Across the border from Norway, he said, “we have the Kola Peninsula [in Russia] and that’s where we have the highest concentration of nuclear weapons in the world: on submarines, strategic bombers, missiles…aimed at the United States.”
“But of course, with Norwegian capabilities, with the capabilities of other European countries, we’re able to follow the submarines, to follow the activities on the Russian side. And that makes the US safer,” he said.
More US Troop Cuts In Europe?
Still, tensions within the alliance are well documented.
Since Trump reassumed office, he has increased the pressure on other member states to increase military budgets. This resulted in an agreement at the alliance’s summit in The Hague in June to raise defense spending in each country to 5 percent of economic output.
“We were carrying much more than our fair share. It was quite unfair actually,” Trump said at the time. But those new targets still need to be met.
Meanwhile, a Pentagon review is expected to lead to reductions in US forces in Europe as Washington continues its pivot to Asia. Last month, it emerged that the United States had decided to significantly cut its troops in Romania.
Stoltenberg would not be drawn on whether he expected further reductions.
“But I still believe that we need to be prepared,” he said, adding that as long as it were handled “in a coordinated way” Europe could deal with a diminished US presence.
“And we have seen how European allies over the last years have really started to invest more in defense.
“What is important is that the US stays committed to the security guarantees,” he said, referring to NATO’s Article 5, under which an attack on one is considered an attack on all.
“A strong NATO is good for Europe. For me, that’s obvious,” Stoltenberg added. “But a strong NATO is also good for the United States.”
