During the Kosovo war, Britain's Defence Secretary George Robertson has said that the biggest security challenge facing the world is defeating Russian President Vladimir Putin.
For The Geopost, Robertson stressed that Ukraine's victory is vital to halting Russian influence in the Balkans and beyond. Otherwise, he adds, Russia will go "further."
While saying that Russia is seeking to expand its influence, all over the world and especially in the Western Balkans, he is optimistic about the future of the Western Balkans, especially Kosovo, which he adds he also worries about.
Interview and plotë:
Twenty-five years after you were secretary general of NATO, what are the challenges facing NATO today?
Lord Robertson: At the Washington summit, at the top of the agenda will be Ukraine. We have to defeat Vladimir Putin. Ukraine must survive and win in this conflict and nothing matters more than that.
It is extremely important for the whole world and especially the Western world that Ukraine survive as a country and resist and resent those who have conquered it illegally and without provocation at all.
You said (at the conference) that the biggest challenge is Russian influence in the Balkans, how do you see the problem of Russian influence, especially in Serbia?
Lord Robertson: There is no doubt that Russia is seeking to expand its influence, not only in the Western Balkans, but actually throughout the world and particularly in Western Europe. But the Western Balkans is part of the territory they (Russians) would like to dominate. Therefore, they are involved in disruption, in economic sabotage, they are involved in cyberattacks, because that is the way in which they operate, and they, if they win in Ukraine, will do much more in the future. So people have to be very careful in this region about what Russia will ultimately do, especially if they win in Ukraine.
NATO gave Kosovo its freedom, today, 25 years later, how do you see Kosovo and its future?
Lord Robertson: We gave Kosovo its freedom. We liberated her from the violence that was being done against her, but we didn't give her her future, her future is in the hands of people like you, the kosovo population as a whole, and they need to make sure they build on that.
You know that children who were young at the time of liberation 25 years ago, will now be parents and grandparents themselves and therefore we and you need to look a lot at what needs to be done to create a prosperous community where there is a unity between all different countries in the Western Balkans. You know, Madeleine Albright was once asked if she was pessimistic or optimistic and she replied, I'm an optimist who worries. So I am optimistic about the Western Balkans and especially Kosovo, but I also worry.