NATO is not aiming to isolate Russia after a nerve agent attack on a former Russian agent and his daughter in Britain last month but had to crack down to show its unhappiness with Moscow, Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said.
"We continue to strive for a better relationship with Russia because Russia is our neighbor, Russia is there to stay. We are not aiming at isolating Russia," Stoltenberg said in remarks at the University of Ottawa.
According to him, NATO was concerned by a more assertive Russia. "That was the reason why NATO allies and partners reacted the way they reacted after the attack in Salisbury. Because that is not a single event. It is an attack which has taken place (against) the backdrop of a pattern of behavior which we have seen over many years from Russia," Reuters cited Stoltenberg as saying,
