NATO chief Mark Rutte meets Trump in Florida
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Rutte, who traveled on a Dutch government aircraft, arrives in Florida to meet with US President-elect Donald Trump.
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NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte delivers a statement during a joint press conference with Romanian Prime Minister Ion Marcel Ciolacu before a meeting at NATO headquarters in Brussels on Monday, on November 18, 2024. (AP)
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has visited US President-elect Donald Trump at his Florida residence, according to a report by Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf.
This meeting occurred as Trump has called for a "fundamental reevaluation" of US relations with NATO, indicating potential shifts in the alliance's dynamics under his forthcoming administration.
Rutte, who traveled on a Dutch government aircraft, arrived in Florida as confirmed by online flight tracking data.
Since NATO's Secretary General does not possess a personal aircraft, it is standard practice for the alliance to use planes provided by member nations. The Dutch government and NATO have not issued statements regarding the nature of the meeting.
Read more: How Trump's victory signals the end of US-led postwar order: FT
According to Reuters, Rutte is widely viewed as one of the EU's most adept leaders in managing relations with Trump during his first presidency.
While the specifics of the discussions between Rutte and Trump remain undisclosed, the timing of the visit signals the importance of early dialogue between NATO leadership and the incoming US administration.
Analysts speculate that topics such as defense spending, NATO's role in global conflicts, and the alliance's future strategies may have been on the agenda.
Nuclear escalation
Rutte's visit to the US comes amid heightened tensions that observers warn could escalate into a nuclear conflict.
On Tuesday, Russia unveiled an updated nuclear doctrine as a retaliatory measure against Western powers authorizing Ukraine to use long-range missiles to strike inside Russia. The decision came shortly after Russia announced it intercepted 5 ATACMS launched from Ukraine.
Observers suggest that the Biden administration gave the authorization with the intent of prolonging the conflict, ensuring it carries over into the Trump administration, despite Trump's stated plan to end the Ukraine war within 24 hours of taking office. The Kremlin, however, has downplayed such promises, expressing skepticism about Trump's ability to swiftly resolve the conflict.
On Thursday, Kiev's Air Force reported that Russia had fired an intercontinental ballistic missile at a military site in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro. Putin later revealed that Russia targeted the Yuzhmash complex in Dnipro, Ukraine, which manufactures missile technology, with a successful strike using the Oreshnik missile.
Oreshnik is Russia's newest hypersonic intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM).
The Russian president disclosed that the hit on Ukraine's Yuzhmash complex was carried out by a ballistic missile in a nuclear-free hypersonic mode and conducted in "combat conditions", explaining that "our missile engineers named it Oreshnik."
Read more: Ukraine's ATACMS could fire back at US: National Interest
