NATO will not be intimidated by Russia’s threats, the alliance will continue to support Ukraine, said the bloc’s Secretary General, Mark Rutte, during his first visit to the base in Wiesbaden, Germany.
“The message is that we will continue to do everything necessary to ensure that he (the Russian president) Vladimir Putin) will not achieve its goals and Ukraine will win,” – Rutte said in a joint interview with Reuters and Der Hessische Rundfunk.
The Secretary General visited the US base Clay Barracks, where the headquarters of a new mission called “NATO Security Assistance and Training for Ukraine” (NSATU) is located, which will gradually assume the coordination of Western military assistance to kyiv. It is seen as an opportunity to support Ukraine if it wins the US elections. donald trumpsays the agency.
Reuters notes that the Wiesbaden base also houses a US unit responsible for the long-range missiles the US plans to temporarily station in Germany starting in 2026. Putin claimed that if the US were to deploy missiles in Germany, important Russian facilities would be within reach. with a flight time of about ten minutes, so Moscow would consider itself free from a moratorium on the deployment of its weapons.
Rutte also stressed that NATO is “a defensive alliance, not an offensive one.”
“We are not interested in seizing any part of any other country outside NATO territory.” – said. According to him, the bloc is prepared to face any threat.
“We will never allow ourselves to be intimidated by our opponents” – he summarized.
