NATO would never pull allied troops from member states that had joined it since 1997 - Stoltenberg - UrduPoint

NATO boss Jens Stoltenberg said the bloc would never pull allied troops from member states that had joined it since 1997, after Russia suggested it roll back the expansion.

"Of course, we cannot agree that we should have no NATO troops in all the countries that have joined NATO since 1997.

That's actually half of our members," he said in an interview with CBC news airing Sunday.

This would mean having a second-class NATO of countries not protected by the alliance, the secretary-general said, adding "we will never introduce that."

"But we are ready to engage in balanced, verifiable measures to reduce arms, conventional nuclear missiles and that kind of things. That would be good for Russia and good for NATO," Stoltenberg said.