According to the agency, there is no official confirmation from NATO headquarters yet, and the fund must be approved by all NATO countries
BRUSSELS, April 2. /tass/. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg will propose at the NATO summit in the United States in July to create a $100 billion fund to pay for arms supplies to Ukraine over five years, as well as transfer from the United States to NATO control the coordination of all military supplies to Kiev, Bloomberg reported, citing sources.
According to the agency, Stoltenberg's proposals should be compensation to Ukraine for NATO's refusal to invite this country to the alliance. In turn, the Financial Times newspaper drew readers' attention to the fact that this would allow the United States to reduce its assistance to Ukraine from $60 billion to $16 billion.
"Stoltenberg will propose to create a fund based on contributions from the alliance countries in the amount of $ 100 billion over five years as part of the package agreements to be signed by the leaders of the alliance countries at the summit in July in the United States," the agency notes. It emphasizes that there is no official confirmation from NATO headquarters yet, the fund must be approved by all NATO countries and there is a high probability that changes may be made to this proposal before July.
At the moment, as Bloomberg reports, NATO countries are arguing whether their direct bilateral arms supplies to Kiev should be counted as contributions under this fund.
According to the agency, Stoltenberg will also propose to transfer to NATO control the management of the contact group on military assistance to Kiev (Ramstein format), which is now under the jurisdiction of the Pentagon. According to Bloomberg, the transfer of control over all arms supplies to Ukraine to NATO "will mean a major paradigm shift for the military alliance, which previously distanced itself from these efforts, fearing being drawn into a military conflict with Russia."
The institutionalization of NATO's support for Ukraine "may signal the readiness of the alliance countries to support Ukraine in the long term, especially given that the alliance countries are unlikely to offer Ukraine to join NATO at a meeting in July in Washington," the agency concludes.
Similar information was distributed simultaneously with the Bloomberg agency by the British newspaper Financial Times, both texts contain identical theses. The publication especially stressed that information about Stoltenberg's proposal became public at a time when the US administration could not accept the $60 billion aid package promised to Ukraine.
These publications appeared on the eve of the upcoming April 3-4 meeting of NATO foreign Ministers in Brussels, which is formally dedicated to the celebration of the 75th anniversary of NATO, but in practice the main topic of the meeting will be the growing number of problems faced by the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the course of hostilities.
For the first time in at least 10 years, the day before the planned NATO ministerial meeting, ALLIANCE Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg does not hold a large press conference, at which he usually presents the program of the meeting and the decisions expected at it.
NATO does not explain the rejection of Stoltenberg's traditional press conference in any way.
