Speaking in a media interview published at the weekend, Rasmussen said that NATO allies should step up their deliveries of weapons and other military equipment to Ukraine amid the Russian invasion of the country.
"I think what we need now is immediate delivery of combat drones, anti-tank, antiaircraft weapons ... to step up our military help to make the Ukrainian Army and the Ukrainian people even more capable of defending [themselves]," he told broadcaster Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty in an interview.
"... We should realize that this is a choice between confronting Putin now or having to fight him later, because Putin won't stop in Ukraine," Rasmussen added.
He told the US-funded broadcaster that when Putin illegally annexed Crimea into Russia in 2014, the West "imposed modest sanctions on Russia," and Putin "misread that as almost an invitation to go further."
Rasmussen said: "And now he has gone further. I think we should do more than we have done already."
He added, as quoted on the rferl.org website: "Based on lessons learned from history, we have seen already an unprecedented European and transatlantic unity. We have seen unprecedented sanctions imposed on Russia. That's good. But I think we should go further. My concrete proposal would be to cut off all import of oil and gas from Russia immediately."
The United States on Sunday condemned a Russian attack on a Ukrainian military base near the border with NATO member Poland.
(gs)
Source: polsatnews.pl, rferl.org