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NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has urged for speed in the defense efforts of the allied states. Too many still did not recognize the urgency of the situation, said Rutte at a Munich Security Conference event in Berlin. “The time to act is now.” The Dutchman portrayed Russia as the main threat. The mere fact that Vladimir Putin is not only destroying Ukraine, but is also prepared to sacrifice 1.1 million of his own citizens since the start of the war “because of some crazy historical idea” is reason enough to be on high alert. If Putin is allowed to continue, he will keep going. According to Rutte, Russia bombed Ukraine with 46,000 drones this year alone.

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With regard to the question of whether there could be a peace agreement between Ukraine and Russia by Christmas, Rutte and German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul (CDU) were cautious. According to the former Dutch head of government, the Americans worked tirelessly on this, but in the end, it must also result in security guarantees for Ukraine, which made it clear to Putin that any new attack would have disastrous consequences. Wadephul said that it would of course be great if a solution was found by Christmas, but that it had to be sustainable, and referred to the experience after the First World War, when the peace treaty placed a heavy burden on the Weimar Republic - including large losses of territory - and ultimately also created the basis for the outbreak of the Second World War.

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Rutte praised Germany's “extraordinary” defense efforts and the deployment of troops in Eastern Europe. He stated that Germany’s leadership in the area of defense was essential and that Germany was a role model for its NATO allies. Europe is making an effort to ensure that NATO is now in a better position. “NATO as an alliance is absolutely present and important.” And that is also in the interest of the USA. This could not be defended without the Arctic, a safe Atlantic or a secure Europe, and that in turn would not be possible without NATO. Experts in the White House, the Pentagon and the State Department would also know this very well. After all, the USA is also a member of NATO in the interest of its own immediate security.

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He emphasized that the US also clearly commits to European security in its new National Security Strategy. During his first meeting with Donald Trump in Washington this year, the president explicitly asked him to also keep an eye on the Indo-Pacific, because he knew exactly that the two Euro-Atlantic and Indo-Pacific locations were closely linked.

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In view of the excitement surrounding critical statements about Europe in the new US security strategy, Foreign Minister Wadephul warned that we should not question something that Washington itself does not question. In addition, the 28-point plan presented by the USA to resolve the Ukraine conflict had shown that something like this could be changed and that a common basis for talks could be found. Ukraine has now reportedly presented a 20-point plan, to which the Europeans have contributed significantly. gd