“The era of engagement with Russia is over,” said British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss at a dinner with NATO foreign ministers in Brussels on Wednesday, according to a statement issued by the British Foreign Office before the dinner.
Speaking, Trus told his NATO counterparts that “the NATO-Russia Basic Act is dead and it is time to reject the outdated approach to dealing with Russia,” the foreign ministry said.
The law, signed in 1997, states that “NATO and Russia are not considered adversaries”, according to the original document.
“The era of engagement with Russia is over. “We need a new approach to security in Europe based on resilience, defense and deterrence,” Trus said.
NATO meeting: Trus’s remarks come as NATO foreign ministers meet in Brussels to discuss Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
According to a statement sent to CNN, Trus stressed that NATO could not allow “security gaps” along the alliance’s eastern borders and should “rethink” support for countries “caught in the web of Russian influence”, such as Georgia, Moldova, Sweden and Finland.
The foreign minister also called on his partners to step up sanctions and arm Ukraine “quickly and decisively … to ensure that Putin fails.”
Trus also said he was working with his G7 counterparts to impose more sanctions on other Russian banks, according to a report published in The Telegraph on Wednesday. In the article, Trus defended the increase in NATO spending and its presence in Eastern Europe.
“In order for NATO to remain at the forefront of global security, it must be bold. As President Eisenhower, the alliance’s first commander-in-chief, said: “History does not entrust the care of the freedom of the weak or timid for long,” the foreign minister wrote.
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