According to Rutte, who recently became NATO Secretary General, the entire NATO is currently “on the eastern flank” of the alliance. By this, he means that the threat concerns not only the Baltic states but also the rest of Western Europe. A joint, large-scale preparation, he says, is inevitable.
At the NATO summit in The Hague on June 24, Rutte wants to advocate for a “quantum leap” in defensive readiness. He especially asks the European member states to significantly increase their defense spending, and to translate this into concrete deployability of troops, systems, and air defenses.
Rutte states that NATO must expand its air and missile defense by as much as 400%. Only then can, according to him, an adequate response be made to Russian threats. Protection against hypersonic missiles and drones must also be better organized.
In particular, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Finland are very concerned about Russian military aggression. They want Western Europe to take more responsibility for shared security and show solidarity with the vulnerable eastern member states.
Rutte emphasized that wishful thinking will not protect NATO. Only a realistic and decisive strategy offers security, according to him. This also includes credible deterrence: “Putin understands only strength,” Rutte said.
Although the conflict in Ukraine forms the impetus for many of these concerns, Rutte stressed that Ukraine’s NATO future is irreversible, even if it may not be explicitly mentioned in the forthcoming final declaration.
At the summit in The Hague, NATO countries will have to make decisions about the level of defense budgets, the distribution of capabilities, and the joint production of defense systems. Rutte wants Europe to take a more leading role here, even if the United States changes political course in November.