President Stevo Pendarovski took part this afternoon in the extraordinary Virtual Summit of NATO Heads of State and Government, which discussed the security situation in and around Ukraine.
Addressing the meeting, President Pendarovski stressed that at this critical moment for the international rule-based order, for the peace and security of Europe, it is ever more important to reaffirm and to display our strong unity – unity of efforts, unity of actions.
President Pendarovski reiterated the state position that North Macedonia condemns the Russian attack on Ukraine, assessing that it is unjustified and unprovoked.
“Northern Macedonia strongly condemns Russia’s recognition of the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Luhansk as independent territories. We join the calls for Russia to immediately cease its military action and withdraw all military troops and capacities from Ukraine”, President Pendarovski said. which committed itself.
In response to Russian military action in Ukraine, the President informed that Northern Macedonia is joining the package of restrictive measures of the European Union against Russia.
The President stressed that Northern Macedonia fully supports NATO’s efforts for rapid response and deployment of troops to strengthen security on the territory of the Allies on the eastern wing of the Alliance and underlined that we contribute to these efforts, in accordance with our capabilities.
“We support the people of Ukraine and its democratically elected institutions. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of the dead and injured. This is a question of our collective security and a question of European peace, in order to maintain the international order. “We must be united and overcome the difficulties we face, because the future of our Alliance and all our citizens is in question,” said President Pendarovski, reminding that Russia needs to comply with international norms and be in conformity with the basic international security architecture to which she has subscribed.
In response to the Russian military actions, the President informed that North Macedonia will align itself to the EU package of sanctions against Russia.
The President said that North Macedonia is fully supportive of NATO’s efforts for fast response and deployment of troops to strengthen security in our Eastern Flank and stressed that we are providing our contribution to these efforts in line with our capacities.
We stand with the people of Ukraine, and its democratically elected institutions. Our thoughts and prayers are with families of killed and injured. This is a matter of our collective security, a matter of European peace, in order to uphold the rule-based international order. We must stand united and overcome the predicaments we face, since the better future for our Alliance and all our citizens is at stake”, President Pendarovski underlined.
