NATO Secretary General: Ukraine isn’t in strong position to start peace talks

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte warned Monday that Ukraine isn’t currently in a position of strength to start peace negotiations with Russia.

“Ukraine hasn’t reached this stage yet, because at the moment they (the Ukrainians) cannot negotiate from a position of strength,” Rutte said in a speech to the European Parliament in Brussels.

“We’ve to do more to ensure that they will be able, by changing the course of this conflict, to reach that position of strength,” he added.

Since arriving at the NATO Secretariat in early October, Rutte has been calling for Ukraine to be given all the necessary capabilities, especially military ones, to be in a position of strength against Russia if the two sides begin peace negotiations.

US President-elect Donald Trump pledged during his election campaign to end the war between Ukraine and Russia within 24 hours of entering the White House on January 20.

Since then, Trump has given himself more time to achieve peace between Russia and Ukraine, but the path to negotiations could open quickly, especially through a meeting that could be held between him and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

On Friday, the Kremlin announced that Putin was open to communicating with Trump without preconditions, welcoming the US president-elect’s willingness to resolve problems through dialogue.

In his speech in Brussels, Rutte called on European lawmakers to spend more on defense against the Russian threat, beyond the current level, including by cutting a small part of social spending in Europe.

In 2014, the 32 NATO member states pledged to allocate at least 2% of their GDP to military spending, but only 23 of them achieved this goal last year.

The NATO Secretary General declined to set a new minimum but noted that the current 2% minimum was far from sufficient.

“We’re safe now, but we won’t be safe in four or five years,” Rutte warned lawmakers.

“So if you don’t do that, start learning Russian or go to New Zealand,” Rutte told the MEPs, in a sarcastic tone.