NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Wednesday that he expects the alliance’s defense ministers to agree on a new NATO maritime center for the security of critical submarine infrastructure at a meeting on Thursday. This is in the context of Russia being able to sabotage submarine cables. At the same time, the NATO secretary noted that the alliance should do more in terms of ammunition standardization.

• “The center will improve our situational awareness and strengthen our maritime presence for deterrence and defense,” he told a news conference.

Standardization of ammunition

Stoltenberg added that the ministers will review a new action plan for defense production to improve the interoperability of ammunition and equipment of NATO members.

• “Since last fall, we have been working on how to increase defense production (…) Standardization is a core responsibility of NATO (…) We need to do more on munitions standardization,” Stoltenberg said, adding that the military industry needs contracts.

Stoltenberg quickly saw that there were no changes in Russia’s position that would require a change in NATO’s nuclear position

Sweden’s entry into NATO

Jens Stoltenberg said about Sweden’s application to join NATO that some progress was made during the negotiations in Turkey.

In March, Turkey ratified Finland’s application to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, but still opposes Sweden joining the alliance, as does Hungary.

About Ukraine’s counteroffensive

Jens Stoltenberg said on Wednesday that it is still premature to talk about Ukraine’s counteroffensive, which is at the beginning, Reuters reports.

• “We don’t know if this will be a turning point in the war (…) The more Ukraine achieves, the stronger its position at the negotiating table will be,” Stoltenberg said at a press conference.