British ambassador to US says Putin's 'destabilizing' behavior is strengthening NATO alliance

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British Ambassador to the US says Putin's 'destabilizing' behavior strengthened NATO allies, reinforced the Unites States' ties to Europe.

British Ambassador to the United States Dame Karen Pierce examines the global impact of Russia's invasion of Ukraine on 'Fox News Live.'

British Ambassador to the U.S. Dame Karen Pierce told "Fox News Live" on Sunday that Russian President Vladimir Putin's increasingly aggressive and "destabilizing" behavior has strengthened the bond between NATO allies and has only reinforced the relationship between the U.S. and Europe. Pierce urged Putin to examine the global consequences that invading Ukraine will have on Russia, and advised the Russian leader to "scale back his nuclear rhetoric."

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KAREN PIERCE: I think those around Putin should be evaluating at this point what his actions are doing outside of Ukraine. As you say, they’re bringing NATO together, it’s brought the U.S. and Europe closer together. It has made countries like Sweden and Finland want to deepen their ties with NATO, and it has made other countries look at their defense budget. And we ourselves as Brits, we have been the reinforcing NATO countries who border Ukraine."

I think if you look at Putin's pattern of behavior since he took office, first of all, people thought he was a strongman. They thought he would be a reformer and they were prepared in Russia to put up with the strongman in order to get the reform. That did not happen. He tried to invade Georgia, he took Crimea he, poisoned people on the streets of a British city, he assassinated somebody in Germany….and now we have the invasion of Ukraine. Whether he is erratic or not, there has been an increasing change over the years of more and more aggressive and destabilizing behavior. 

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We really do think he should scale back his nuclear rhetoric. You had the quote that the permanent five members of the Security Council signed up for, five members who have nuclear weapons by law. Russia is one of them, nuclear war…one must never be fought. We really do appeal to him to look at that statement very carefully, and we as NATO, we will defend ourselves. But we are no threat to President Putin. I really want to make that clear. NATO is not escalating. 

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