Foreign Pool Report #7 - NATO Sec Gen Rutte gaggle
- From
- Fouad Youcefi
- Sent
- Thursday, April 24, 2025, 4:12 PM
Nato Secretary General gaggled with the press for about six minutes taking questions on Ukraine and on his meeting with President Trump and Sec. Hegseth.
On NATO role changing if US pulls out of Ukraine-Russia talks:
"What I'm seeing here is a United States and a leader in President Trump who was first to brake the deadlock. I think when you look at the outcome of the meeting yesterday in London, we can be quite positive on where we are. So I'm not seeing a situation where the US is walking. I'm seeing a situation that under President Trump's leadership could bring this to a positive end."
"There is something on the table now, I think, where the Ukrainians are really playing ball, and I think the ball is clearly on the Russian court now."
On US potentially decreasing military presensce in Europ:
"US has to take care of many theaters, including the Middle East, including Indo Pacific."
"Since President Obama, there has been a pivot towards Asia. The question here is, how do you make sure that the US is capable of making sure that you take care of all these areas, and at the same time that collectively, we defend the euro, Atlantic area? That's exactly what we're working on. So there is a total commitment of the US to NATO, a total commitment to the famous article five about an attack on one is an attack on all, but also clearly a commitment that we have to speed up the spending in Europe, do more ourselves, so that it is possible for the US to spend more time and resources on the Indo Pacific, which I think is logical."
On whether Putin wants peace:
"I don't know. I worked with him for four years between 2010 and 2014 when I was Prime Minister in the Netherlands and I've stopped trying to read his mind."
On NATO summit in Hague this summer:
"We are all really exited" about increased spending and fairness.
"This is really a NATO which is stronger, which is fair, which is also more lethal in terms of being able to defend NATO territory"
Best
Fouad
Fouad Youcefi
Fouad Youcefi
Chief U.S. Correspondent
Foreign News dep. - Washington bureau
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