NATO secretary general on U.S.’ relationship with Russia
(CBS, KYMA/KECY) - NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte spoke with Margaret Brennan on CBS' Face the Nation Sunday about the United States' relationship with Russia.
When asked how he will convince members of NATO to "spend more to counter the threat from Russia at a time when the U.S. is going closer to it, and the U.S. is putting economic pressure on Europe," Rutte said:
"First on the U.S.-Russia question. What Trump has done since he came into office is break the deadlock when it comes to this terrible war in Ukraine, because we've got to stop the killing, we've got to stop the fighting, and I commend him for that. And I must say, allies here in the last couple of days meeting with Foreign Ministers are fully supporting the U.S. effort to bring this war to a fair and durable and lasting end. And we'll see- we have to see how far we can get. But I mean, the fact that day at night, the American administration is working on that is- is important. And then when it comes to defense spending the last couple of months here in the European side of NATO, it is staggering the amount of billions coming in. It...you have to compare this to the days of the Cold War, when you look at the overall defense spending now being ramped up in Europe, and we have to continue doing this, because, as I said in December, if we would stick to the old 2% we cannot defend ourselves here in three to five years."
Mark Rutte, Secretary General, NATO
During the interview, Brennan said the President Trump is calling for a peace deal with Ukraine at the same time as "there is this parallel, separate effort to repair America's relationship with Russia," prompting her to ask Rutte if the "U.S. getting closer to Russia" undercuts his efforts to counter Russia, to which Rutte said:
"Of course, I'm not in the room when all these talks take place, but what I'm seeing from a distance and hearing from my American colleagues and, including the President, whom I visited a couple of weeks ago in a very successful meeting we had in the Oval Office and then during lunch. There is this effort to bring this war to an end. The goal clearly is in the court of the Russians. They are not moving fast enough, is my impression."
To watch Brennan's full interview with Rutte, click here.
