NATO foreign ministers, meeting for two days with the return of donald trump to the White House in the environment, agreed yesterday on a series of measures that they decided to call “proactive” to counteract the increasingly frequent maneuvers of the enemies of the West. “Their growing campaign of hostile actions in NATO countries,” argued Mark Rutte, Secretary General of the Alliance, obliges to “demand responsibilities from its authors”. On this occasion, as on others, he pointed out the focus of the threats. “Both Russia and China,” he warned, “have attempted to destabilize our countries and divide our societies with acts of sabotage, cyberattacks and energy blackmail.”
What the allies commit to is to speed up intelligence exchanges, to organize more defensive exercises, to improve the protection of critical infrastructures, to reinforce their cybersecurity, to guarantee “tougher action against the Russian fleet in the shadow of oil exporting vessels.
Rutte, in short, is not alone in this endeavor. The Czech Foreign Minister stated that it is necessary “send a strong message to Moscow that we will not tolerate this”. The Latvian minister referred to the damage that the underwater infrastructures located in the Baltic Sea have recently suffered, and assured that “they are part of a toolbox that certain actors use to influence our populations and governments and create insecurities or undermine the way “in which we function.” The Finnish official said that, “especially if there is an external state power behind all this, we have to be more forceful in attributing” the attacks.
Hybrid actions against NATO members were not, in any case, the only issues on the agenda. Rutte, yes, called for a tougher hand and confirmed that the European Union is working on a new and ambitious package of sanctions against Moscow to prevent them from evading those previously imposed against their main source of income: the sale of hydrocarbons. But, mainly, he recalled the risk of betraying the Ukrainians and not acting in time to deter the powers aligned against European interests.
kyiv (Ukraine)
“If you want to maintain deterrence at the current level, 2% [del PIB en gasto militar] It is not enough,” Rutte stressed. The truth is that almost all countries have committed to investing higher percentages in the coming years, but there are still nine countries below in 2024. Spain, in fact, barely exceeds 1%. Rutte, on the other hand, encouraged the process to be accelerated, regretting that it is still produced “at prices that are too high”, “delivery is too slow”, “The defense industry has to do more shifts, it needs to put in more production lines”.
The German Government, in this sense, yesterday approved a strategy for its military sector that aims to facilitate companies to increase their weapons production capacity and modernize its weakened army. More than a year ago, Berlin opened an additional fund to the general budgets with some 100 billion euros to contribute to this effort.
The ministers highlighted, meanwhile, the importance “priority” of the delivery of air defenses to Ukraine, which has requested up to 19 additional systems to protect an energy infrastructure crushed by Russian bombings. Official data reflect that up to 65% of the network is damaged and blackouts in some parts of the country last 20 hours. Rutte also stressed that allies must provide kyiv with “sufficient support to change the trajectory of this conflict once and for all,” and “ensure that, when the time comes, Ukraine can negotiate peace from a position of strength.”
The Secretary of State of the United States, Anthony Blinkenadded that we must continue helping Ukraine so that it is in a “strong position” that allows you to “make the decisions you need about your future.” “If Russia insists on continuing the aggression, Ukraine will be able to negotiate. If Russia is really willing to negotiate in good faith, Ukraine will be able to do so in a stronger position,” he summarized.
Where it does not find consensus with kyiv is, precisely, in its insistence that young people under 25 years of age begin to be called up to join the ranks. For the president Volodymyr Zelenskyis a red line: it compromises the future of the nation and would not even be as effective, he argues, as its allies delivering more weapons and faster. Rutte, subtly, aligned himself with Washington’s opinion. “We have to make sure there are enough troops available in Ukraine,” he said. “More people may need to go to the front lines.”
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