NATO’s Rutte Says President Trump is ‘Extremely’ Helpful for European Defense Spending
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said relations with Russia should eventually be normalized once the fighting ends in Ukraine. “It’s normal if the war would have stopped for Europe somehow, step by step, and also for the US, step by step, to restore normal relations with Russia,” Rutte said in a Bloomberg TV interview with Annmarie Hordern.
“But we are absolutely not there yet, we have to maintain the pressure on them” to ensure that Russia takes the negotiations seriously,” he said. Rutte has been engaging in intense diplomacy in recent weeks to keep the transatlantic alliance together as President Donald Trump has pared back support for Ukraine and has indicated that the US will step back from its traditional security role in Europe.
The surprise move has sent European countries scrambling to boost defense spending and rethink their military positioning. Rutte met with Trump Thursday in the White House, where the two discussed a potential US-brokered ceasefire in Ukraine. Europe has largely been sidelined in the negotiations, a fact that has rankled many leaders on the continent.
TANIKO Madagascar 