NATO chief Mark Rutte has once again emphasized that Russia, due to the invasion of Ukraine, is the biggest threat to security. In this context, Rutte also mentions North Korea, Iran, China, and Belarus, which support the Russians in the war in various ways.
“The most important and direct threat to the alliance remains Russia,” Rutte said on Monday at a press conference leading up to the NATO summit. “Moscow continues to wage war against Ukraine, together with North Korea, Iran, China, and Belarus.”
Rutte hopes to keep the attention on the war in Ukraine. With all the violence that has erupted in the Middle East in recent days, that is difficult.
But the Secretary-General is not afraid that the bombings that Israel and Iran are carrying out on each other will overshadow the importance of aid to Ukraine. “Certainly not,” Rutte replied to that question. There are numerous meetings between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and various government leaders at the summit.
The pledged financial support from the European NATO countries and Canada for the coming year supports that, according to Rutte. Since the beginning of this year, 35 billion euros have been pledged for the coming year. Last year that was 50 billion in total. “That shows that the support is only increasing, instead of decreasing,” Rutte said.
Rutte convinced that Spain will also meet the norm
Rutte further called it “historic” that all 32 NATO member states agree that they will spend 5 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) on defense in the future. Of that, 1.5 percent may go to defense-related matters such as infrastructure.
Although Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez indicated that this is very difficult for his country, he will not block the proposal either.
Rutte said he is not worried that Spain will eventually meet the norm. “I am convinced of that.”
According to him, Spain also has no exceptional position, because the country does want to achieve the capacity goals. The balance will be assessed in 2029. Then it must become clear whether the member states of the alliance are well on their way.