“We face two very different, but significant, long-term challenges – from Russia, and from terrorism and violent extremism – challenges that have re-shaped our view of our own security and that will be with us for many years to come. Russia’s illegal and illegitimate annexation of Crimea in 2014 – its use of military force to take the sovereign territory of another country, the first time this has happened in Europe since World War II – brought years of more positive relations between NATO and Russia to an end. But this is not only about Crimea. In the time since the annexation, Russia has continued to support separatists in eastern Ukraine, acts in an aggressive and bullying manner towards its other neighbors, and has tried to divide and intimidate NATO allies. …

“As it stands, there is a wide gulf between NATO and Russia in the way we view the world. We see a world of free, sovereign, independent nation states, abiding by the Helsinki Final Act, with respect for borders and for the right of every state to choose its security arrangements. Russia looks to a new version of the 1945 Yalta Agreement, in which the major powers agree to divide Europe into spheres of influence and dominion, and where the big powers dictate the fate of their neighbors. These worldviews are, clearly, incompatible. As long as Russia continues its aggression against Ukraine and attempts to intimidate NATO allies and partners, we will do everything in our power to maintain a strong deterrence and defense.”

– NATO Deputy Secretary General Alexander Vershbow, speaking on August 29 in Bucharest, at the annual meeting of Romanian ambassadors.