NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Tuesday that the transatlantic defense pact must ensure that the conflict in Ukraine doesn’t spill over into neighboring states, an outcome he warned would be more dangerous and destructive than the localized hostilities now roiling the country. “We need to end this conflict, not expand it,” the NATO chief said in remarks during a March 8 joint press conference alongside Latvian President Egils Levits, in Riga, Latvia. Key to achieving this objective, Stoltenberg said, is to bolster NATO’s eastern flank with additional forces as a deterrence to Russia. “Therefore, we are increasing our presence, also in Latvia … and the eastern part of our alliance, to make sure that Russia understands that we are here to protect and defend all allies, every inch of allied territory,” he said, referring to NATO’s Article 5 pledge, where an attack against one member country is considered an attack …