NATO chief identifies IS, and Russia, as "main challenges"

NATO chief identifies IS, and Russia, as "main challenges"

“That is the two main challenges we face and they are very different. But at the same time we have to be able to both face the challenges from the Southern Flank, from the Middle East/North Africa and at the same time face the challenges posed by Russia to the East. And what we are doing is we are implementing the biggest reinforcement to our collective defense since the end of the Cold War,” he said.

Stoltenberg added that NATO was also looking to "increase its contribution to the fight against Islamic State, and against the unrest and violence in Iraq, Syria, and across the Middle East."

According to him, NATO is "neither seeking confrontation with Russia nor a cold war." Instead, the military alliance wants a dialogue to avoid incidents "like the downing of the Russian plane over Turkey. "

Stoltenberg did not wish to comment on the election campaign in the United States, saying it was up to U.S. citizens to decide whom to elect as president, while NATO "represents a strong united alliance for the defense of Europe and North Africa" and also one that "plays a key role in the fight against terrorism."

As for the migrant crisis, he said NATO was assisting the EU, and Turkey and Greece, and that it deployed ships to the Aegean Sea for this purpose.

The ships are not there to turn back boats with migrants and refugees, but are providing surveillance, reconnaissance, and monitoring, VOA quoted him as saying.

Asked whether NATO was planning further expansion, Stoltenberg said the alliance is engaged in the process of Montenegro's accession, whom it invited to join.