Austin made the remarks at the annual Halifax International Security Forum, which attracts defense and security officials from Western democracies.

“Russia’s invasion offers a preview of a possible world of tyranny and turmoil that none of us would want to live in. And it’s an invitation to an increasingly insecure world haunted by the shadow of nuclear proliferation,” Austin said in a speech.

“Because [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s fellow autocrats are watching. And they could well conclude that getting nuclear weapons would give them a hunting license of their own. And that could drive a dangerous spiral of nuclear proliferation.”

Austin dismissed Putin’s claims that “modern Ukraine was entirely created by Russia,” calling it a vision of “a world in which autocrats decide which countries are real and which countries can be snuffed out.”

He added that the war “shows the whole world the dangers of disorder. That’s the security challenge that we face. It’s urgent, and it’s historic.

But we’re going to meet it. … The basic principles of democracy are under siege around the world,” he said.

U.S. President Joe Biden last month declared that the risk of nuclear “Armageddon” is at the highest level since the 1962 Cuban missile crisis; Russian officials have raised using tactical nuclear weapons after suffering massive setbacks in the nearly nine-month invasion of Ukraine.

While U.S. officials for months have warned of the prospect that Russia could use weapons of mass destruction in Ukraine in the face of battlefield setbacks, Biden administration officials have repeatedly said nothing has changed in U.S. intelligence assessments to suggest that Putin has imminent plans to deploy nuclear weapons.

CIA Director Bill Burns recently met with his Russian intelligence counterpart to warn of consequences if Russia were to deploy a nuclear weapon in Ukraine.

Austin said nuclear weapons need to be responsibly controlled, and not used to threaten the world.

“Ukraine faces a harsh winter. And as Russia’s position on the battlefield erodes, Putin may resort again to profoundly irresponsible nuclear saber-rattling,” he said

Austin also compared Russia to China, saying Beijing is trying to refashion both the region and the international system to suit its authoritarian preferences. He noted China’s increasing military activities in the Taiwan Strait.

“Beijing, like Moscow, seeks a world where might makes right, where disputes are resolved by force, and where autocrats can stamp out the flame of freedom,” he said.

Austin called Putin’s invasion the worst crisis in security since the end of the Second World War and said the outcome “will help determine the course of global security in this young century,” Austin said.

Austin said the deadly missile explosion in Poland this week is a consequence of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “war of choice” against Ukraine. “The tragic and troubling explosion in Poland this week reminded the whole world of the recklessness of Putin’s war of choice,” Austin said.

On Tuesday, two workers were killed when a projectile hit a grain-drying facility close to Poland’s border with Ukraine. While the source of the missile is under investigation, NATO officials have said they suspect it was fired from a Ukrainian missile battery.

Officials from Poland, NATO and the United States have blamed Russia for the deaths in any case, saying a Ukrainian missile would not have misfired had the country not been forced to defend itself against heavy Russian attacks that day.

Russian officials have cast the conflict as a struggle against NATO — though Ukraine is not a NATO member even if it has been receiving aid from NATO member states.

Austin said NATO is a defensive alliance and poses no threat to Russia.

“Make no mistake: we will not be dragged into Putin’s war of choice. But we will stand by Ukraine as it fights to defend itself. And we will defend every inch of NATO territory,” Austin said.

A Polish investigation to determine the source of the missile and the circumstances of the explosion was launched with support from the U.S. and Ukrainian investigators joined the probe on Friday.

Andriy Yermak, head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, said in an interview broadcast live at the forum that “It’s not right to say it’s a Ukrainian rocket, or a Russian rocket, before the investigation is over.”

In its 14th year, about 300 people gather each year at Halifax International Security Forum held at Halifax’s Westin hotel, where about 13 Ukrainian refugees now work.

The Wall Street Journal, citing an unidentified U.S. official, later reported that the Trump administration had dropped its consideration of the plan.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said his government had been in discussions with the White House seeking to persuade the U.S. not to do it.

“Canada and the United States have the longest un-militarized border in the world and it is very much in both of our interests for it to remain that way,” Trudeau said.

Trump said the U.S. has troops at the border but then said he would need to find out about that. He then suggested he would deploy troops along the Canadian border to match what is being done at the Mexican border.

“I guess it’s equal justice to a certain extent,” Trump said. “We have a lot of things coming in from Canada, we have trade, some illegal trade, that we don’t like.”

According to a U.S. official, the Department of Homeland Security did make a formal request to the Pentagon for military forces to provide additional security along the northern border, between entry points. The official said the request was made a few days ago and the Defense Department had done some initial planning but there was no final decision on whether or not to approve the request.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations, said there was no discussion about closing the border, only about beefing up efforts to prevent any illegal crossings. It wasn’t clear whether the department was still pursuing the request by late Thursday afternoon, or if approved, whether it would be filled by active duty or National Guard troops.

Canadian Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said the government had told the Trump administration there was no justification for troops. Very few people cross the border into the U.S. from Canada illegally and Canada has universal health care and widespread testing for the virus. And COVID-19 cases are surging more in the U.S. than in Canada.

“What we have said is, ‘We really do not believe at all that there would be a public health justification for you to take this action,’” Freeland said. “And we have said, ‘We really don’t think this is the right way to treat a trusted friend and military ally.'”

Freeland said specifics of the U.S. proposal was a question for American officials to answer and declined to say what the Trump administration was contemplating.

She said they Canada was “very directly and very forcefully” expressing the view that “this is an entirely unnecessary step” that Canada would “view as damaging to the relationship.”

Freeland said they first learned of the proposal a few days ago. Trudeau’s office had been in direct contact with the White House and Canada’s defense and public safety ministers had spoken to their counterparts.

Canada has more than 3,400 coronavirus cases, 35 deaths and has tested over 158,000 people.

Canada sends 75% of its imports to the U.S. and about 18% of American exports go to Canada. The two countries have already closed the border both ways to all non-essential travel.

Bruce Heyman, a former U.S. ambassador to Canada, said it would be a serious misuse of resources and a dangerous and inappropriate use of American troops.

“It makes no military sense. It makes no economic sense. It makes no sense at any level other than Donald Trump’s political level,” Heyman said.

Associated Press writers Lolita Baldor and Ben Fox in Washington contributed to this report.

Although President Donald Trump had tweeted on Thursday that he would not let the Navy remove Chief Petty Officer Edward Gallagher from the SEALs, the Navy was given White House guidance on Friday that it can proceed as planned, the Navy official said. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal matters.

This would seem to have defused a conflict between the president and Navy leaders, although it remained possible that Trump could still use his authority as commander in chief to intervene in the volatile and politically charged Gallagher case, despite assurances received by the Navy.

Navy Secretary Richard Spencer said Saturday at an international security forum in Halifax, Nova Scotia, that he did not consider a tweet by Trump an order and would need a formal order to stop the Navy review board, scheduled to begin Dec. 2, that would determine whether Gallagher is allowed to remain in the SEALs.

“I need a formal order to act,” Spencer said. Of Trump’s tweets, “I don’t interpret them as a formal order.”

Trump tweeted Thursday that the Navy “will NOT be taking away Warfighter and Navy SEAL Eddie Gallagher’s Trident Pin,” inserting himself into the ongoing legal review of the sailor’s ability to hold onto the pin that designates him a SEAL.

The Navy on Wednesday had notified Gallagher that he will face the review board to determine if he should remain on the elite force.

Gallagher was acquitted of a murder charge in the stabbing death of an Islamic State militant captive, but a military jury convicted him of posing with the corpse while in Iraq in 2017. He was demoted from chief petty officer to a 1st class petty officer. Trump this month restored Gallagher’s rank.

Spencer, speaking on the sidelines of the Halifax International Security Forum, said if the president requests the process to stop, the process stops.

“Good order and discipline is also obeying the orders of the president of the United States,” he said.

Despite the differing views with the president over the appropriate handling of the case, Spencer told reporters that he has not threatened to resign. But he acknowledged that he serves at the pleasure of the president.

“The president of the United States is the commander in chief. He’s involved in every aspect of government and he can make decisions and give orders as appropriate,” he said.

Gallagher’s lawyers have accused the Navy of trying to remove the SEAL designation in retaliation for Trump’s decision to restore his rank.

Gallagher filed a complaint with the inspector general accusing Rear Adm. Collin Green, the Naval Special Warfare commander, of insubordination for defying Trump’s actions.

Speaking Sunday on “Fox & Friends,” Gallagher repeated his argument that the Navy was acting in retaliation. “They could have taken my Trident at any time they wanted,” he said. “Now they’re trying to take it after the president restored my rank.” Gallagher said he wanted to be allowed to retire on Nov. 30 “with all the honors that I’ve earned, get back to my family.”

Green also notified three SEAL officers who oversaw Gallagher during the deployment — Lt. Cmdr. Robert Breisch, Lt. Jacob Portier and Lt. Thomas MacNeil — that they are also being reviewed, according to U.S. officials.

Removing their Trident pins means they will no longer be SEALs but could remain in the Navy.

The Navy has revoked 154 Trident pins since 2011.

Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said in an interview with The Associated Press on Wednesday that NATO will meet the requirements set out by Gen. John Nicholson, the top U.S. commander for Afghanistan, who has said he needs close to 16,000 troops to fill the NATO training mission. Stoltenberg said the troop level will go from 13,000 to around 16,000.

“I’m absolutely confident that we will have sufficient forces when we move into 2018,” Stoltenberg said. “We are still receiving pledges and announcements about more troop contributions from allies.”

Stoltenberg said the troops won’t conduct combat operations but help to train and assist the Afghan security forces, notably to train special forces and build up the conflict-torn country’s air force. He spoke of ahead of his attendance at the Halifax International Security Forum this weekend.

NATO officials said earlier this month the alliance came up short, meeting a bit more than 90 percent of the military requirements outlined by commanders. U.S. military leaders, however, said then they were encouraged by the continuing discussions with several nations, who may eventually agree to increase their commitments. U.S. Army Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti, NATO’s top military officer, said in Brussels the troop commitment hadn’t been reached yet. Nicholson said a gap has contributed to the lowest level of capabilities and the “highest level of risk we faced” in the 16-year war.

“There’s still a lot of violence in Afghanistan but at the same time we’ve seen a lot of important progress,” Stoltenberg said. “The Afghans are now able to respond every time the insurgents and the Taliban attack … They have also been able to prevent the insurgents or Taliban from taking over any of the provincial capitals which was a strategic goal of the Taliban this year.”

NATO countries are under pressure from U.S. and NATO leaders to beef up their commitments. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis sent letters to some allies in recent weeks urging them to fill critical gaps. Stoltenberg said Qatar and the UAE will send troops.

The additional trainers are critical to reaching the stated U.S. and NATO goal of building up the Afghan forces so that they can take control of their own country’s security. At the same time, officials want to use the increased military pressure to force Taliban leaders to the peace table.

“We strongly believe the best way to stabilize Afghanistan is to enable Afghans to stabilize the country themselves,” Stoltenberg said.

The 16,000 NATO number does not include other support missions or counterterrorism operations against the Taliban, Islamic State militants and other insurgents.

At least 15,000 U.S. forces are in Afghanistan, after President Donald Trump decided to send about 3,800 troops to the country this fall to strengthen efforts to advise Afghan forces and conduct counterterrorism missions.

In its ninth year, the Halifax International Security forum attracts top defense and security officials. About 300 people gather each year. Richard Spencer, Secretary of the U.S. Navy, and Abdullah Abdullah, the chief executive of Afghanistan, are among the speakers.

“We have to pay attention to Afghanistan,” Forum President Peter Van Praagh said.

NATO and Stoltenberg will be honored at a dinner on Friday night.

The U.S. said Pakistan accomplished the release of Caitlan Coleman of Stewartstown, Pennsylvania, and her husband, Canadian Joshua Boyle, who were abducted and held by the Haqqani network, which has ties to the Taliban and is considered a terrorist organization by the United States. The operation, which came after years of U.S. pressure on Pakistan for assistance, unfolded quickly and included what some described as a shootout and a dangerous raid. U.S. officials did not confirm the details.

“Today they are free,” President Donald Trump said in a statement, crediting the U.S.-Pakistani partnership for securing the release. Trump later praised Pakistan for its willingness to “do more to provide security in the region” and said the release suggests other “countries are starting to respect the United States of America once again.”

The couple were kidnapped in October of 2012 while on a backpacking trip that took them to Russia, the countries of Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, and then to Afghanistan. Coleman was several months pregnant at the time, “naive,” but also “adventuresome” with a humanitarian bent, her father James told The Associated Press in 2012.

The Pakistani military said early Thursday the family was “being repatriated to the country of their origin.” But as of Thursday evening, it was not known when they would return to North America. They were together in a safe, undisclosed location in Pakistan, according to a U.S. national security official, who wasn’t authorized to discuss the case publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The Pakistani military said the family had been freed in “an intelligence-based operation by Pakistan troops” after they’d crossed the border from Afghanistan.

Boyle and the High Commissioner for Pakistan to Canada described a scene in which gunshots rang out as Boyle, his wife and their children were intercepted by Pakistani forces while being transported in the trunk of their captors’ car. Boyle told his parents there was a shoot-out in which some of his captors were killed and that the last words he’d heard from the kidnappers were, “kill the hostage,” his father, Patrick told reporters after speaking with his son. The younger Boyle also told his father he’d been hit by shrapnel in the leg. Three intelligence officials said the confrontation happened near a road crossing in the Nawa Kili area of the district of Kohat in northwest Pakistan.

The high commissioner, Tariq Azim Khan, said, “We know there was a shootout and Pakistan commandos carried out an attack and rescued the hostages.”

A U.S. military official said that a military hostage team had flown to Pakistan Wednesday, prepared to fly the family out. The team did a preliminary health assessment and had a transport plane ready to go. But sometime after daybreak there, as the family members were walking to the plane, Boyle said he did not want to board.

Boyle’s father said his son did not want to board the plane because it was headed to Bagram Air Base and the family wanted to return directly to North America. Another U.S. official said Boyle was nervous about being in “custody” given his family ties.

He was once married to Zaynab Khadr, the older sister of former Guantanamo Bay detainee Omar Khadr and the daughter of a senior al-Qaida financier. Her father, the late Ahmed Said Khadr, and the family stayed with Osama bin Laden briefly when Omar Khadr was a boy.

The Canadian-born Omar Khadr was 15 when he was captured by U.S. troops following a firefight and was taken to the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay. Officials had discounted any link between that background and Boyle’s capture, with one official describing it in 2014 as a “horrible coincidence.”

The U.S. Justice Department said neither Boyle nor Coleman are not wanted for any federal crime.

The couple told U.S. officials and their families they wanted to fly commercially to Canada.

Boyle’s father called the rescue a “miracle.” Coleman’s parents, Jim and Lyn Coleman, meanwhile, posted a statement on the door of their Pennsylvania home expressing joy. Lyn Coleman said “I am in a state of euphoria, stunned and overjoyed,” in an interview with ABC News.

The developments came rapidly Wednesday afternoon —nearly five years to the day after Coleman and Boyle lost touch with their families while traveling in a mountainous region near the Afghan capital of Kabul.

Coleman’s parents last had a conversation with their son-in-law on Oct. 8, 2012, via an email sent from an internet cafe he’d described as being in an “unsafe” part of Afghanistan. From then on, there were only desperate, hostage videos released by their captors and hand-scrawled letters mailed home.

“I pray to hear from you again, to hear how everybody is doing,” read one letter the parents shared with the online Circa News service in July 2016, in which Coleman revealed she’d given birth to a second child in captivity. It’s unclear whether they knew she’d had a third.

Boyle’s parents say their son told them in a letter that he and his wife pretended to the children that their signs of captivity were part of a game being played with guards.

U.S. officials call the Haqqani group a terrorist organization and have targeted its leaders with drone strikes. But the group also operates like a criminal network. Unlike the Islamic State group, it does not typically execute Western hostages, preferring to ransom them for cash.

The Haqqani network had previously demanded the release of Anas Haqqani, a son of the founder of the group, in exchange for turning over the American-Canadian family. In one of the videos released by their captors, Boyle implored the Afghan government not to execute Taliban prisoners or he and his wife would be killed

The U.S. has long criticized Pakistan for failing to aggressively go after the Haqqanis. In recent remarks on his Afghanistan policy, Trump noted billions paid to Pakistan “at the same time they are housing the very terrorists that we are fighting. But that will have to change, and that will change immediately.”

Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said her country was “greatly relieved” the family was safe, and she thanked the U.S., Afghan and Pakistani governments for their efforts.

U.S. officials have said that several other Americans are being held by militant groups in Afghanistan or Pakistan.

They include Kevin King, 60, a teacher at the American University of Afghanistan in Kabul who was abducted in August 2016, and Paul Overby, an author in his 70s who had traveled to the region several times but disappeared in eastern Afghanistan in mid-2014.

Ahmed reported from Islamabad, Gillies from Toronto. Associated Press writers Deb Riechmann and Matthew Lee in Washington, Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates and Lolita C. Baldor in Tampa, Florida, contributed.

Britain’s Prince Harry, a veteran of service in Afghanistan, created the Paralympic-style games as a way to inspire soldiers toward recovery. About 550 competitors from 17 countries competed in 12 sports over the last week.

The seven days of athletic performances closed as Springsteen sang three songs, including his classic “Dancing in the Dark,” before joining Adams on “Cuts Like a Knife.”

Harry paid tribute to the athletes in his closing speech, saying, “Our world needs your dedication and passion like never before.”

“And you never know, this may just be the missing piece of the puzzle to help you regain that satisfaction of serving others once again,” he added.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s wife, Sophie Gregoire Trudeau, and former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden handed out participation medals to competitors on their way to the arena floor.

Team USA, represented by 90 warrior-athletes competing across a range of disciplines, won gold in wheelchair basketball.

Biden and his wife, Jill, attended the game to cheer on the wounded service members.

More than 550 wounded and injured service members from 17 nations competed in 12 sporting events including archery, track and field, cycling, golf, sitting volleyball, swimming, wheelchair rugby and wheelchair basketball as they are cheered on by thousands of family members, friends and spectators in Toronto’s Distillery District, according to the Defense Department.

Army Spc. Stephanie Morris took home a gold medal in discus, a silver in shot put and a bronze in hand cycle in the women’s track and field competition, according the Defense Department.

Morris’ leg was amputated in 2016 as a result of injuries she sustained in Afghanistan in 2013. She credited adaptive sports as a critical part in her recovery.

“It doesn’t matter whether she wins or loses, Stephanie just likes to compete,” Stephanie’s mom, Relda Bates, said. “The games have actually helped Stephanie. She was always into sports. Stephanie was always a competitor so having the games, the Warrior Games and the Invictus Games, is something that benefits Stephanie.”

Former President Barrack Obama also attended the basketball game Friday, sitting court-side at Team USA’s wheelchair basketball game against France with the Bidens and Prince Harry.

Army Capt. Will Reynolds, who won bronze medals in the men’s 1,500-meter track and field and rugby competitions, served in the Army for six years as an infantry officer, according to the Defense Department. In 2004, he was injured by a remotely detonated improvised explosive device in Baghdad.

For Reynolds, the games stand as a testament to the families who stuck by their wounded relatives through treatment and recovery, he said.

“Invictus is a way for family members to see competitors like myself healthy again and excelling. It’s a pinnacle for our recovery and kind of a reward for the families sticking it out through the hard days, those sleepless nights in the hospital and for all those hard times,” Reynolds said. “This is a good celebration for them, too, going to the opening and closing ceremonies, attending the concerts — it’s just unbelievable.”

This was the third edition of the Invictus Games, which are to be held in Sydney, Australia, next year.

Defense Minister Harjit Sajjan said Thursday that Canada is renewing its contribution to the Global Coalition until March 31, 2019.

Canada has about 200 special forces soldiers operating in northern Iraq supported by a combat hospital, a helicopter detachment, a surveillance plane and an air-to-air refueling aircraft. The government calls it an advise-and-assist mission to help train local forces, but opposition parties say Canada is involved in combat. They pointed to word that that a Canadian special forces sniper, supporting Iraqi forces, killed an Islamic State fighter from 3,540 meters away, in what the Canadian military said is a world record.

Canada previously removed its fighter jets from the mission.

Sen. John McCain of Arizona, chairman of the Armed Services Committee, said at the Halifax International Security Forum that any attempt to bring back harsh interrogation techniques such as waterboarding, which simulates drowning, would quickly be challenged in court.

“I don’t give a damn what the president of the United States wants to do or anybody else wants to do. We will not waterboard. We will not do it,” McCain said to applause during a panel discussion.

McCain, who was tortured as a prisoner of war during the Vietnam War, said extreme interrogation techniques are banned under U.S. law and the Geneva Conventions.

During the campaign, Trump said he would push to change laws that prohibit waterboarding, which was used against suspected terrorists during the George W. Bush administration.

McCain, the 2008 Republican presidential nominee, said waterboarding doesn’t work and makes it hard for the U.S. to claim moral superiority.

“What does it say about America if we’re going to inflict torture on people,” he said.

McCain also expressed support for the North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico and said the United States should not back out of the not-yet-implemented Trans-Pacific Partnership. As a candidate, Trump said NAFTA should be renegotiated and opposed the TPP, arguing that such trade agreements cause significant job losses in the U.S.

“I think we are going to pay a terrible price for abandoning the TPP,” McCain said. “You are going to see Chinese assertion of economic influence in the region, and possible dominance. All of these countries are now going to join with China in trade agreements and we’re going to be out in the cold. Historians will judge us very harshly.”

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., laughs while speaking at the Halifax International Security Forum in Halifax on Saturday, Nov.19, 2016.

Photo Credit: Darren Calabrese/The Canadian Press via AP

In its eighth year, the Halifax International Security Forum has attracted top defense and security officials from Western democracies. Trump has dominated the discussions.

Rose Gottemoeller, NATO’s Deputy Secretary General, said in a panel discussion that NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg had spoken with Trump on Friday.

“The two men agreed about the enduring importance of the NATO alliance and the enduring importance of increased defense spending,” Gottemoeller said.

Trump suggested during the campaign that he might review NATO members’ financial contributions before deciding whether to honor commitments under the alliance’s mutual defense clause. He also raised concerns among U.S. allies with his effusive comments about Russian President Vladimir Putin.