The head of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization says if the Russian invasion of Ukraine can be ended, relations with the Kremlin will likely be normalized.
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte made the comment Friday during an interview with Bloomberg TV following his Thursday sit-down with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office.
“It’s normal — if the war would have stopped for Europe somehow, step by step, and also for the U.S., step by step — to restore normal relations with Russia,” Rutte told Bloomberg TV on Friday.
He clarified that NATO is “absolutely not there yet” on negotiations with Russia and will “have to maintain the pressure on them.”
“That’s why we have the sanctions,” Rutte continued. “Let’s not be naive about the Russians. But in the longer term, Russia is there, and Russia will not go away.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin is doing his best to appease Trump while prolonging peace negotiations as his troops continue to reclaim ground in the Kursk region and encroach on Ukrainian territory across the front line.
Putin called the U.S.-Ukraine proposal for a 30-day ceasefire “good” and “correct” but simultaneously offered a laundry list of concerns and refused to commit to the agreement as written.
“[The number one concern] is what we’re going to do with this sector of breached-state border if we stop the hostilities for 30 days. … Will that mean that everybody there is going to retreat without fighting?” Putin said. “Are we going to have to let them go after all the atrocities they have perpetrated against civilians? Or will the Ukrainian leadership command them to lower their weapons, drop their weapons, and just surrender? How is it going to look? That’s still unclear.”
Rutte praised Trump for his mediation of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, saying the president “broke the deadlock in this war because he started to engage with the Russians. I think that’s positive for the Ukrainians.”
He added, “The U.S. administration is now in dialogue with the Russians to see where they stand on this, and this will be a step-by-step approach. But this is literally developing over the next couple of hours and days, so it’s very difficult to predict when that will happen,” he said.
RUSSIAN NEGOTIATOR REJECTS US-UKRAINE CEASEFIRE AGREEMENT
Trump has failed to weaponize the same hostile rhetoric toward Putin that he has previously used to pressure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky into agreeing to the U.S. vision for peace.
He wrote Friday on Truth Social that he “had very good and productive discussions” with Putin on Thursday and that “there is a very good chance that this horrible, bloody war can finally come to an end.”
“But at this very moment, thousands of Ukrainian troops are completely surrounded by the Russian military, and in a very bad and vulnerable position,” he warned. “I have strongly requested to President Putin that their lives be spared. This would be a horrible massacre, one not seen since World War II. God bless them all!!!”
