NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg will spend another year leading the alliance as it faces its “biggest security crisis in a generation.”
The alliance announced the decision on Thursday, the day President Joe Biden and dozens of other allied leaders met in Brussels to discuss the Russian invasion of Ukraine and how to prevent it from spilling over into NATO territory.
His term was set to end on Oct. 1, and he was expected to take a job as Norway’s central bank governor by the end of the year.
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“Honoured by the decision of #NATO Heads of State and Government to extend my term as Secretary General until 30 September 2023,” Stoltenberg tweeted. “As we face the biggest security crisis in a generation, we stand united to keep our Alliance strong and our people safe.”
Stoltenberg was Norway’s prime minister from 2000-2001 and again from 2005-2013 before he became the NATO chief. He was also previously Norway’s finance minister and energy minister.
Last month, the Norwegian government named Ida Wolden Bache, the deputy central bank chief, the governor of Norges Bank for up to nine months. While Stoltenberg was expected to take the top position, his extended term in NATO has pushed the bank to propose Wolden Bache as his replacement, according to Reuters.
The NATO alliance has sought to provide support to Ukraine while keeping itself out of the conflict. More than a dozen countries have provided some military equipment to Ukrainian forces as they attempt to withstand the invasion.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urged world leaders in a virtual address on Thursday to provide his country with aircraft and tanks as it fights off Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion. He also admonished the attendees at NATO’s emergency summit in Brussels for rebuffing his requests for tanks and planes.
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“Please never tell us again that our military is not meeting NATO standards,” Zelensky said. “We have shown what our standards are capable of. We have shown what we can do for the common security of Europe and the world.”
According to a senior U.S. official, Zelensky did not ask NATO members to implement a no-fly zone over Ukraine or for NATO membership, long-standing requests from him that had repeatedly been rejected by the Biden administration and NATO.
