NATO Secretary General held talks with Trump amid heightened geopolitical tensions
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte met U.S. President-elect Donald Trump in Palm Beach, Florida, on Friday, a spokesperson for the transatlantic military alliance said on Saturday.
“They discussed the range of global security issues facing the Alliance,” the spokesperson, Farah Dakhlallah, said in a brief statement.
On its website, NATO said Rutte and his team also met with Congressman Mike Waltz, Trump’s pick to be his national security adviser when he returns to the White House, and other members of the president-elect’s national security team.
On Friday, NATO did not respond to requests for comment on Dutch media reports that Rutte, a former prime minister of the Netherlands, had flown to Florida on a Dutch government plane to meet Trump.
Rutte, who took office as NATO chief last month, was widely regarded as one of the best European leaders at forging a good working relationship with Trump during his first, 2017-21, term.
The meeting comes amid heightened geopolitical tensions between Russia and the West, following Ukraine’s launch of U.S.-made ATACMS rockets at Russian military sites, with authorisation from outgoing Biden’s administration.
In parallel, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree approving the Foundations of State Policy in the Field of Nuclear Deterrence, the country’s updated nuclear doctrine.
The updated doctrine outlines the threats that would make Russia, the world’s biggest nuclear power, resort to such weapons, which encompass any aggression against Russia’s territorial integrity or that of its allies through the use of conventional weapons.
