Stoltenberg on 'burning meetings'

During the NATO summit, Jens Stoltenberg was awarded the US Medal of Freedom. He should start playing baseball. But what he will remember best from Washington is his meeting with Volodymyr Zelensky and First Lady Olena Zelenska.

Monday, July 15 at 04:17

– It is always important to meet political leaders, Joe Biden, Olaf Scholz, the new British Prime Minister Keith Starmer.

– But it is the personal meetings with Zelensky and his wife that are heating up, Stoltenberg tells VG after the NATO summit.

On Wednesday evening, during the President's dinner at the White House, Stoltenberg and his wife, Ingrid Schulerud, had a long conversation with the Ukrainian presidential couple.

Life in Kyiv

– They spoke about their children, life in Kyiv, the attack on the children's hospital, and the experience of living in constant fear and the threat of attack. The family lives close to the brutality of war. Talking in depth with the presidential couple is always very moving, says the NATO Secretary General.

first meet

The Zelenskys have two children: daughter Oleksandra (19 years old) and son Kirillo (11 years old). In the first months of the war, they saw almost nothing of their father. For security reasons, he remained in the office.

Stoltenberg and Zelensky have met several times, but the Norwegian often recalls their first encounter:

– It was 2019. Zelensky was the newly elected president and his first trip abroad was to NATO. He was a slightly younger version in a suit and tie and no beard. He was a bit of a novice in international diplomacy.

I have changed:

– Now he is a man of the world, but with a beard and no tie, Stoltenberg says.

And it continues:

“He is a character who always leaves a strong impression when you meet him, and you hear his urgent appeals to understand how serious the matter is, and why more support is urgently needed,” says the Secretary-General.

Read also: Zelensky: Gun restrictions 'insane'

Short way to the goal

At the summit in Vilnius last year, Zelensky was deeply disappointed that NATO countries did not extend an invitation to Ukraine to join. He made that clear.

In Washington, the Ukrainian president was more satisfied with what he got from NATO:

“We are very far from the goal,” he said at a press conference with Stoltenberg on Thursday, noting that the next step was an invitation from NATO followed by possible membership.

– It will be successful. The Ukrainian president added that this will make NATO and Ukraine stronger.

to throw a baseball

Jens Stoltenberg says he is returning home to Brussels, from his last summit as Secretary-General, with other personal memories:

– He says that throwing a baseball, for the first time in his life, was a new experience.

The occasion was “NATO Day” at Washington National Stadium, before the game between the Washington Nationals and the St. Louis Cardinals.

“Luckily, I realized in time that I had to practice a little bit. The last time I threw a ball was with tennis balls with my kids. There was something in the atmosphere on the court, it was 35 degrees and humid. It was a great experience,” he says.

I had to turn my back.

– And then you got the Medal of Freedom from President Biden? Was it too much to be VG's “Name of the Year”?

“It's hard to say,” Stoltenberg says, laughing heartily.

– But it was touching and honorable to get that medal. I really didn't know about it beforehand. And then I didn't understand right away that I was supposed to turn my back to the president so he could hang it around my neck, so he had to explain that to me when we were up there on the stage.

Stoltenberg said he accepted the award in recognition of NATO's collective work over the past 10 years.

– I also consider it a recognition of the cooperation that I have had with the Americans. It is something that I have appreciated during my years at NATO, the close cooperation with President Obama, President Trump, President Biden, their ministers and their advisors.