Kiev may have to accept loss of territory – Stoltenberg

Ukraine may have to recognize the loss of some of its territory to Russia in favor of achieving peace and security guarantees, Jens Stoltenberg said in his first long interview after stepping down as NATO secretary general.

In a conversation with the Financial Times published on Friday, he said that Kiev may be forced to rethink seeing the restoration of the 1991 borders as a prerequisite for any peace deal.

 Stoltenberg argued that Ukraine could obtain security guarantees from NATO even “if there is a line that is not necessarily the internationally recognized border.” He noted that the US defense pact with Japan does not cover Tokyo’s claim on the Kuril Islands, which are part of Russia, and that West Germany was admitted to NATO despite the fact that East Germany was controlled at the time by a separate, Soviet-aligned government.