Eurasia Press & News
The Secretary General of NATO, Mark Rutte, in an interview on Wednesday, said any peace deal struck with Russia over Ukraine must not be “a repeat of Minsk II” – which aimed at ending Russia’s limited invasion of Ukraine in 2015 but instead laid the groundwork for the full-scale Russian invasion of 2022.
“The thinking [on security guarantees for Ukraine] is totally aligned between the Ukrainians, Europeans, Canadians and the Americans. And the thinking is this: that if not NATO, we have to make sure that Ukraine has security guarantees in place and that [Vladimir] Putin understands [he] cannot try this again. It cannot be a repeat of Minsk II,” Rutte said in a joint interview with a European consortium of journalists, which included ARTE and BIRN.
Refusing to be drawn on any details from the Berlin talks earlier this week about a potential backstop by the US to solidify security guarantees, Rutte said the so-called Coalition of the Willing – a European coalition led by the French, British and Germans – would be “part of the security guarantees for Ukraine if peace breaks out, or there is a long-term ceasefire”.
Regarding financial aid to Ukraine for next year, and using frozen Russian assets, which is the main topic at this week’s European Council summit, Rutte said the EU must decide. “I have my personal views on this, but I think I should not air them, because in the end, that is an issue for the European Union, under the leadership of Ursula Von der Leyen … and the 27 heads of state and government,” he said.
“What I’m focusing on is the need for the money,” he said, noting that Ukraine will again need 120 billion euros to finance its defence against Russia, with 60 billion euros, or half, of that coming from outside.
“That money has to be there. If it doesn’t come from the [frozen Russian] assets, it has to come from somewhere else,” he added.
On NATO’s response to Russia’s hybrid war against Europe – which has included drone and jet incursions, sabotage and cyberattacks – Rutte highlighted how “Eastern Sentry”, an operation executed in September along NATO’s eastern flank, is seeing the first deployments of drones, and using anti-drone technologies learned from Ukraine.
“Ukraine, of course, is a big source of learning for us, that’s why we have this JATEC, Joint NATO-Ukraine Centre, where we capture all these lessons. And we are now rapidly implementing all of this. We have seen extra capabilities and resources being supplied to the nations on the eastern flank,” he said.
Commitment to Western Balkan countries
Russia’s hybrid war includes co-opting and financing pro-Kremlin politicians, parties and other movements in all European countries, especially Western Balkan countries like Bosnia and Herzegovina that are not yet in NATO. In such a volatile region, Rutte stated that “we cannot accept a power vacuum to emerge ever in that part of the Western Balkans… and NATO is completely committed to that.”
“Obviously, we are in close contact with our [NATO] ally Montenegro, and we have, of course, a clear commitment to Bosnia and Herzegovina and to Kosovo … We are working closely together with our European partners in both Kosovo and in Bosnia and Herzegovina, we are closely connected to the EU-led dialogue between Pristina and Belgrade to make sure that that helps to de-escalate tensions and, of course, Montenegro is an ally within NATO and we are closely working with them to make sure that any hybrid threat is countered,” he said.
Rutte seemed to row back slightly on what has been called his “alarmist” speech in Berlin on December 11, where he urged NATO allies to step up their defence efforts to prevent a war that could be “on the scale of war our grandparents and great-grandparents endured”.
He said that this bleak scenario would only unfold “first, if we do not decide to implement the decisions we made in The Hague [that] all of us will commit to spending 5 per cent on defence, including 3.5 per cent for defence by 2035, with a credible path. Second, if we all decide to make sure that Ukraine cannot lose this war, that Russia cannot get access to the whole of Ukraine because then that 5 per cent is not nearly enough.”
“So, this is my message: deliver on the commitments, both in Ukraine and defence spending, then we can live in peace. If we do not, we might face war,” he said.
Asked about Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto’s criticism of the Berlin speech as scare-mongering and fuelling war tensions, Rutte said: “I don’t care about his comments.”
He went on to praise Hungary’s defence spending commitments and importance to NATO. “You have an excellent defence industrial base, which is important to Hungary, but also to NATO as a whole. You host one of the forward land forces in Hungary,” he said.
“So when it comes to our collective defence, Hungary is an important ally which is well respected. And we might not always agree, but that is why we are democracies, we can disagree,” he added.
