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NATO will not be intimidated by threats from Vladimir Putin and Russia and will continue to support Ukraine, according to Mark Rutte, the organization’s new secretary general.
Mr Rutte made the statement during his first visit to the NATO mission in Ukraine, located in Wiesbaden, Germany.
“The message (to Russian President Vladimir Putin) is that we will continue, that we will do what is necessary to make sure that he does not succeed, that Ukraine will prevail,” he said in a joint interview with Reuters and German media outlet Hessischer Rundfunk.
Mark Rutte, who was Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 2010 to 2024, stressed the importance of NATO having all the resources it needs to counter Russian ambitions.
“We are NATO. We are a defensive alliance, we are not offensive. We are not interested in capturing any part of another country outside NATO territory,” he said.
“As a democratic alliance, the most powerful military alliance in world history, serving a billion people, we are ready to face any threat. We will never be intimidated by our adversaries,” he added.
