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Rutte says Russia won't intimidate NATO
NATO will not be intimidated by Russian threats and will continue to support Ukraine, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said during his first visit to the Wiesbaden base in Germany.
"The idea is that he (Russian President Vladimir Putin) will not achieve his goals and will continue to do everything necessary to ensure a Ukrainian victory," Rutte said in a joint interview with Reuters and Der Hessische Rundfunk.
The Secretary General visited the US base at Clay Barracks, where the headquarters of a new mission called NATO Security Assistance and Training for Ukraine (NSATU) is located, which will gradually continue to coordinate Western military assistance to Kyiv. The agency noted that if Donald Trump wins the US presidential election, this is seen as an opportunity to support Ukraine.
Reuters noted that the Wiesbaden base also houses a U.S. military unit responsible for long-range missiles that the U.S. will temporarily deploy in Germany from 2026. Putin said that if the U.S. deployed the missiles in Germany, they would be able to reach vital Russian targets in about 10 minutes, freeing Moscow from a moratorium on deploying the weapons.
Rutte also stressed that NATO is a "defensive alliance, not an offensive one." "We are not interested in acquiring any part of any other country outside NATO territory," he said. According to him, the bloc is ready to counter any threat. "We will never threaten our opponents," he concluded.