“Portugal is a founding country of NATO and remains faithful to the commitments it has assumed and it is in this sense that we thank you for this visit in preparation for the next summit in Vilnius [capital of Lithuania] where we will surely be able to reinforce what is the unity of our Alliance transatlantic in defense of the values of peace, freedom, democracy”, defended António Costa.

The prime minister was speaking to journalists, at the official residence of São Bento, in Lisbon, in a joint statement with the secretary general of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg.

Jens Stoltenberg's visit to Portugal was taking place as part of the round that the Norwegian leader is carrying out before the NATO summit in July, focused on support for Ukraine.

António Costa defined as a priority, in the current context, support for Ukraine “so that Russia does not win this war and opens the way for a just and lasting peace that respects international law, the right to territorial integrity and the right to independence by part of Ukraine”.

The Portuguese prime minister, who was speaking alongside the NATO secretary general, stressed that over the last few years, the two had “the possibility of having a very close and very effective relationship, working to strengthen NATO as a defensive alliance and a 360-degree view of the different threats that arise” to the security of allies.

“Certainly in 2015, when we started working together, we did not imagine that today we would be facing a war on NATO's borders, in which there was a radical change from a geopolitical point of view”, pointed out the Prime Minister.