Stoltenberg's Term as NATO Chief Likely to Be Extended

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg is likely to see his term of office extended again as the alliance's key members are satisfied with his handling of the Ukrainian crisis, a source close to the negotiations told Sputnik.

Stoltenberg's term as secretary general was due to expire in October 2022, but it was extended for another year, until September 30, 2023, against the backdrop of the Ukraine crisis. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, Canadian Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas, as well as former Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi are reported among likely candidates to succeed Stoltenberg as head of the bloc.

Source stresses that that "a lot of key members of the Alliance have a positive view on how effective and with determination the current Secretary General is handling" Ukrainian crisis from a NATO standpoint.

The expert believes that key NATO players would not want to see a change in the leadership during the conflict in Ukraine and that Stoltenberg still has unfinished projects on his hands with regards to finalizing the accession process of Sweden.

"For all those reasons, key members of the Alliance see an extension of the duties of Jens Stoltenberg as a good solution at this stage. Although I want to point out that nothing is finalized or agreed yet, so the situation can change," the source concluded noting that the announcement could potentially be made at the Vilnius Summit in July.

When asked about Stoltenberg's potential replacements, the source described Draghi as a "strong" candidate while being less sure about Kallas's chances as "this scenario is losing ground at this stage for several different reasons."