NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte met with US President-elect Donald Trump in Palm Beach, Florida.
This was reported by Reuters.
"They discussed a range of global security issues facing the Alliance," NATO spokeswoman Farah Dakhlallah said in a brief statement. Yesterday, the Alliance did not respond to a request for comment on media reports that Rutte had arrived to meet with Trump.
Former Dutch Prime Minister Rutte, a few days after Trump's victory in the US election, expressed his desire to meet with the newly elected American leader and discuss, in particular, the threat posed by military cooperation between North Korea and russia.
Trump's return to the White House has raised fears in Europe that he may stop military aid to Ukraine. During his first term, Trump also aggressively pushed Europe to increase defense spending, criticizing NATO allies for not spending enough.
The WP newspaper wrote that Rutte is likely to be Europe's "leading spokesman" in talks with the US president-elect, as the former Dutch prime minister is considered one of the leaders who managed to establish a good working relationship with Trump. In particular, Rutte "calmed down" Trump in 2018, agreeing that he was right to demand that NATO members spend more on defense.
According to WP, the Secretary General of the Alliance was to discuss with the US leader-elect a strategy for peace talks on Ukraine. Rutte's message was to be that Trump and Europe's interests are in a "just and lasting peace" that does not encourage russian aggression and provides reliable security guarantees for Kyiv.
NATO believes that supporting Kyiv in the fight against Moscow is a key factor for both European and American security.
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