In-town pool note #10 - Mark Rutte

Nato secretary-general Mark Rutte gaggled for about six minutes at the sticks. He said he had a good meeting with Trump and his team, that huge steps have been taken in the last several days on a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine, that the ball is in Russia's court, and that he doesn't see the US withdrawing from peace discussions.

Full lines:

He said he had a "very good meeting" with Trump, Waltz, Rubio and Hegseth, during which they discussed the war in Ukraine and the upcoming Nato summit in the Hague.

He said they are "all very excited about the fact that you see a Nato which is spending so much more on defence, particularly the European and Canadian side", making sure that the other members equalise what the US is spending. "This is really a Nato which is stronger, which is fairer, which is also more lethal".

On the war in Ukraine, he said that under Trump's leadership, "this could be brought to a positive end" and that he doesn't see the US withdrawing from discussions: "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 around under President Trump's leadership."

When asked if he thinks Vladimir Putin wants peace, Rutte said "I don't know." He said. that he worked with Putin from 2010 to 2014, when he was PM of the Netherlands, "and I stopped trying to read his mind."

About discussions between Moscow and Kyiv, Rutte said "there is something on the table now, I think, where Ukrainians are really playing ball, and I think the ball is clearly in the Russian court".

He reiterated that Nato members should be spending "considerably higher" than 2 per cent of GDP on defence. "It has to be considerably north of 3 per cent."

He declined to get into details of what concessions Russia or Ukraine might be willing to offer, saying doing so would not be helpful to talks. Ditto on whether Ukraine will be able to get back Crimea.

Rutte said "I really believe that some huge steps had been taken over the last couple of days, and the London meeting yesterday was successful."

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Steff Ch�vez

Washington Reporter

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