NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte assessed on Monday that the issue of Greenland is very important for the North Atlantic Alliance and confirmed that member states are working to ensure the security of the island.
"We have eight Arctic countries, seven are in NATO, only Russia is not. We have to ensure security and we are talking about that. We want the Arctic to remain safe. Russia is the main threat to NATO and Europe," Rute said at a press conference in Zagreb.
This is the first announcement by the Alliance's head since US President Donald Trump hinted on January 4 that he wanted to take over Greenland.
Mark Rutte paid his first official visit to Zagreb as Secretary General of the world's largest military organization. His interlocutor, Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković, said that all allies must respect each other.
"We respect the fact that Greenland is part of Denmark and we are sure that the best solution can be found through dialogue," said the Prime Minister of Croatia.
NATO's secretary general denied that the US interest in Greenland represents the most serious crisis for the alliance. He added that he welcomed the fact that countries bordering the Arctic had united and decided to include a greater NATO engagement in the region.
Rutte assessed that the US president had a positive influence on the Alliance, as he encouraged members to spend more on defense, adding that without that pressure, there would be no unity on increasing defense budgets.
He also stressed that NATO is working with partners in the Arctic who have requested greater engagement from the Alliance, while at the same time working on the next steps of cooperation. He cited Denmark as an example, which, according to him, is accelerating its own defense investments, acquiring new military equipment and unmanned aerial vehicles, and significantly strengthening defense capabilities, including the security of Greenland.
There is no unified position on Ukraine's membership in NATO.
The war in Ukraine was also the focus of the Alliance's Secretary General's talks with Croatian officials. Mark Rutte acknowledged that there is no unified position among the members on Ukraine's full membership in NATO.
"We know that some allies, including Hungary, the United States and some others, are either against or very skeptical about Ukraine's membership in NATO. That is a fact," said Rutte.
He praised Croatia for its support for Ukraine, stating that the country has contributed more than 300 million euros in military equipment, helicopters, and protective gear since the beginning of the war.
"Ukrainian security is also our security," said Rute.
Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković emphasized that Ukraine is not only defending its freedom on the ground, but also democracy, values, and the security of the European continent.
"That is why it is important to understand that the consequences of Russian aggression have been more than obvious across the continent - in Croatia, in our energy situation, through the energy crisis, economic and social pressures, as well as inflation. All of this is connected to the broader destabilization that we have experienced in the past period," said Plenković.
During the NATO Secretary General's visit to Zagreb, it was confirmed that an informal meeting of NATO foreign ministers will be held in Croatia for the first time in the spring of 2027.
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