NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte dismissed renewed concerns about US involvement in the military organization on Tuesday, on the eve of a meeting of allied foreign ministers focused on Russia’s war against Ukraine.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will not attend Wednesday’s meeting, which is scheduled to take place during high-stakes negotiations over Ukraine’s future in Moscow and elsewhere in Europe.
Mr. Rubio’s unusual absence from the U.S.-led alliance comes after President Donald Trump last month announced a 28-point proposal to end the nearly four-year war, disappointing European allies and Canada.
Rutte told reporters ahead of the meeting that Rubio has a busy schedule.
“He is working very hard to deal not only with the situation in Ukraine, but of course with many other issues that we have,” Rutte said.
“So I fully accept that he can’t be here tomorrow and I won’t read anything into it.”
A senior State Department official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the administration’s internal reasons for the absence, said Mr. Rubio had already attended dozens of meetings with NATO allies and that “it would be completely unrealistic to expect him to attend every meeting.”
He will be replaced by Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau, who will press allies to meet their commitment to invest 5% of their gross domestic product in defense.
President Trump’s first peace proposal
The administration’s draft plan signaled that there would be no further expansion of NATO, a long-standing demand from Russia, and that Ukraine would not be admitted to the alliance, breaking a long-standing promise with Kyiv that NATO would have a seat at the NATO table.
The plan also stated that a dialogue would be held between Russia and NATO with the mediation of the United States to resolve all security issues and create business opportunities. It is unclear how NATO’s most influential member state will act as an impartial mediator.
Rutte also downplayed controversial aspects of Trump’s original plan to end the war, saying it had been significantly reworked to address European concerns.
“We need to start somewhere. We need to have proposals on the table,” he said.
“If the agreement to end the war with Ukraine were to include NATO elements, it would be treated separately. That would obviously include NATO.”
Despite proposals to exclude Ukraine from membership, the former Dutch prime minister insisted the country remains on an “irreversible path” to joining the world’s largest security alliance, as NATO leaders promised in Washington in 2024.
However, he stressed that it would be politically impossible for Ukraine to join, and that membership would require the unanimous consent of all 32 allies.
The Trump administration has ruled out that possibility, and Hungary and Slovakia also oppose it.
“As you know, there is currently no agreement on Ukraine’s membership in NATO,” Rutte said.
Weapon sales and troop reduction
At NATO’s last summit in The Hague, President Trump reassured European partners by affirming the United States’ commitment to Collective Security Article 5, which states that an attack on an ally should be considered an attack against all allies.
He described other NATO leaders as “an amazing group of people” and said “almost all of them said, ‘Thank God for America,'” but some of his comments since then seem to put the United States outside the organization that has long led it.
President Trump met with Finnish President Alexander Stubb at the White House in October and said, “We’re selling a lot of weapons to NATO, and most of that is going to Ukraine.”
“It’s up to them, but they’re buying weapons from the United States.”
There are also growing concerns about further reductions in U.S. forces in Europe. In October, Romania announced that the United States would reduce its military presence in the country by up to 3,000 troops to focus on security threats in Asia and elsewhere.
The administration is expected to announce a troop movement plan in early 2026.
Additional sources of information • AP