The Secretary General of NATO, Mark Rutte, warned this Thursday that any aggression against a member country of the Atlantic Alliance would trigger a "devastating" response. At the same time, he stressed that the organization "closely monitors" the exercises that Belarus is carrying out with Russian nuclear ammunition.
"Let no one be mistaken. Our capacity and our determination to defend each ally are absolute. If someone were so foolish as to attack, the response would be devastating," Rutte emphasized at a press conference held in the Swedish town of Revinge, shortly before the start of the meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Helsinborg.
The allied leader thus responded to the announcement made this same Thursday by Moscow, in which it confirmed its participation in the Belarusian maneuvers with nuclear ammunition for its missile systems. Minsk has reiterated that these exercises are not directed against any specific country.
Rutte has also again called "ridiculous" Russia's accusations that Latvia would have allowed Ukraine to launch attacks against Russian territory from its soil. Regarding the recent violation of Estonian airspace by a Ukrainian drone, he remarked that it occurred "as a consequence of the Russian invasion" and not because Kyiv "wanted to send the drones there."
Internal debate in NATO and democratic model
In other news, the Secretary General responded to criticism about alleged internal fractures in NATO following pressure from the United States on other partners, defending that disagreement is part of the democratic essence of the Alliance.
"WE ARE DEMOCRACIES, WE LOVE TO DEBATE"
"We are democracies, we love to debate, but in the end we always unite, all 32 of us," he stressed, contrasting this dynamic with the system of Russia or China, where, as he pointed out, "a single person decides what everyone should think."
Funding for support to Ukraine
Regarding economic support for Ukraine, Rutte has reiterated his proposal that each NATO member contribute 0.25% of its GDP to Kyiv. He admitted, however, that the proposal "will not obtain unanimity" and, therefore, will not be formally adopted.
Even so, he has defended that the idea serves to "initiate the debate" on a more balanced distribution of effort within the Alliance. In this context, he has highlighted that countries such as Sweden, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark and Norway are "punching above their weight", while other partners "are not spending enough".