NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said today in Brussels that the Alliance will defend every part of allied territory and that it should prevent Russia and China from accessing the Arctic region.
"We must make sure that we defend every inch of NATO territory," Rutte said upon arriving at a meeting of NATO defense ministers at the military alliance's headquarters in Brussels.
Rutte said that the long-term threat from Russia exists, but that one should not be naive about China when it comes to the Arctic, and that the Arctic Watch mission was launched yesterday to identify and fill all gaps in security, in which the experience of new members Sweden and Finland will be very important.
"This is proof that NATO as a whole, the US, Canada and European allies are working together to ensure that we defend every inch of NATO territory," Rute said.
He said that NATO "is not only there to protect Europe and Canada, but also the United States," and for the United States to be safe, a strong and secure Arctic, a secure Europe, and a secure Atlantic are needed.
"With the Arctic Guard and with the simultaneous negotiations between the US, Denmark and Greenland, all of this is important to ensure that we prevent Russia and China from gaining access and to defend the entire region," said the NATO Secretary General.
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Responding to a question from reporters, Rutte said the new focus on the Arctic would not distract from NATO's eastern flank, adding that NATO is strong enough to do both and that Operations Eastern Guard and Baltic Guard to defend undersea cables and infrastructure remain important.
Rutte reiterated that today's meeting will discuss how decisions made at the NATO summit in The Hague last year are being implemented, which relate to increasing defense spending, strengthening industrial production in the defense sector, and continuing support for Ukraine.
"We need to ensure that the industrial base produces what we need to be able to defend ourselves. Canada and Europe have already increased defense spending by billions of euros," Rutte said.
Instead of US Defense Secretary Pete Hegsett, his deputy Elbridge Colby will participate in today's meeting, which is the second ministerial meeting to which Washington has not sent its ministers.
Rutte, answering questions from reporters, said the US is "putting pressure on Russia" as are the Europeans through sanctions packages, delivering crucial air defense to Ukraine, leading peace efforts and "doing exactly what we need" with regard to Ukraine.
An informal meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Council will also be held today, attended by Ukrainian Defense Minister Mikhail Fedorov and EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kalas.
The NATO Secretary General's final conference will be followed by a meeting of the Contact Group for the Defense of Ukraine.
The agenda of today's ministerial meeting will also include preparations for the next NATO summit, which will be held on July 7th and 8th in Ankara.
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