Jens Stoltenberg extends stay as Nato head to 2022

Former Norwegian prime minister has been in post since 2014

Allies agreed to extend Mr Stoltenberg's mandate as Secretary General by another two years until 30 September 2022. EPA

Jens Stoltenberg will remain as Nato Secretary General until September 2022 after the organisation on Thursday extended his mandate by two years.

The former Norwegian prime minister arrived in the post in 2014 and had been handed an earlier two-year extension to 2020.

The alliance said its 29 members had "expressed their support for the Secretary General's work to adapt and modernise NATO and ensure it remains fit for the future".

The 70-year-old organisation faces many challenges, not least the demands from US President Donald Trump that Washington's European allies increase their share of defence spending.

Nato has also spoken out against Russia's threat to install new intermediate range missiles that can reach reach European capitals after the collapse of the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty.

On a March 1 trip to Bulgaria, Mr Stoltenberg appealed to Russia to step back from its threat and return to compliance with the treaty.

He said that the world needed to be "prepared for a world without the INF treaty and with more Russian missiles".

Days later, Russian President Vladimir Putin officially suspended Moscow's participation in the treaty.

Mr Stoltenberg's tenure at Nato has also coincided with rising tension with Russia after Moscow's March 2014 annexation of Crimea, and the conflict in eastern Ukraine that killed about 13,000 people over five years.