“You know that the United States is strongly engaged in Poland’s affairs. We have heard this from every key politician in the U.S. But of course, we must make sure that we are as strong as possible,” NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said during a morning press conference.
On Wednesday, journalists asked Mark Rutte what level of allied forces in Poland would be sufficient to deter Russia.
According to Rutte, Poland is investing heavily in its armed forces.
“You have essentially already met all the targets. You are currently reforming your armed forces. You know that the United States is strongly engaged in Poland’s affairs. We have heard this from every key politician in the U.S. But of course, we must make sure that we are as strong as possible,”
he replied.
Rutte stated that the United States is “fully committed to NATO.”
“The United States is fully committed to NATO, but there has been, and to some extent there still is, one expectation. (…) For the U.S. to be safe, it needs a secure Atlantic, Europe, and the Arctic. (…) The expectation was, and remains, that Europeans and Canadians bring their spending in line with that of the United States, which I, and many colleagues present in this room, consider entirely fair,”
he said.
Asked what his message was to Russia and Vladimir Putin, he replied that the Alliance would defend every inch of its territory and that NATO cannot be defeated.
“We are defensive; we will never attack anyone. We will defend only our way of life, our democracy, and our territory. So do not test us, do not play games with us,”
Rutte concluded.
One of the most important topics of the NATO summit in Ankara is the commitments made by member states at the summit in The Hague, under which each Alliance country is to spend 5 percent of its GDP on defense by 2035.
In recent days, The Washington Post reported that officials are seeing signs that Russia is actively considering attacks on NATO targets, and that the U.S. has warned its allies about the threat. Former CIA Director Bill Burns assessed that the risk of escalation is real and growing.
Recently, U.S. President Donald Trump announced that an additional 5,000 American troops would be sent to Poland.
During recent talks between representatives of the Chancellery of the President of the Republic of Poland and senior officials in Donald Trump’s administration, declarations were made that amounted to a “green light” for a permanent U.S. military presence in Poland.
“The highway to a permanent U.S. military presence in Poland, at the presidential and political level, is open,”
Polish President Karol Nawrocki said today in Ankara.