Nato

NATO Chief: US 'Totally Committed' to Collective Defense Pledge

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said on Wednesday that the United States was "totally committed" to the alliance's mutual defense clause, after President Donald Trump appeared to cast doubt on it. "For me, there is absolute clarity that the United States is totally committed to NATO, totally committed to Article Five," Rutte told reporters ...

What Does NATO's 5% Spending Deal Really Mean?

NATO leaders are set to sign off Wednesday at their Hague summit on a defense spending pledge to satisfy US President Donald Trump's demand for a headline figure of five percent of GDP. Here are the details of what NATO is signing up to: Five percent? Not really  Trump has insisted NATO countries hit the five-percent bar -- well beyond the ...

Trump Whirlwind to Test NATO Summit Unity

Will he play nice? That's the question for NATO leaders nervously waiting to see if a carefully choreographed show to please US President Donald Trump will pay dividends when the alliance summit gets down to business on Wednesday. Every precaution is in place to avoid a Trump blow-up at the Hague summit, from giving him credit for a historic ...

NATO Summit Seeks to Keep Trump Happy and Alliance United

  NATO leaders will seek to lock in US President Donald Trump's commitment to their alliance with a summit pledge to boost defence spending, as they gather Tuesday in The Hague with global attention focused on Iran. The overriding focus of the gathering, which kicks off with dinner hosted by the Dutch king, has been on keeping Trump ...

'Highly Undesirable': Dutch Host NATO During Political Crisis

For a small country like the Netherlands, organising a NATO summit is a big endeavour at the best of times. The government collapsing three weeks beforehand has not exactly made life easier. With whole districts and key roads blocked for weeks, and schools and businesses closed, the usually serene seaside city of The Hague has certainly felt the ...

Putin says NATO Rearmament Not a 'Threat' to Russia

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that NATO's push to ramp up defense spending was not a "threat" to Russia, days before the alliance was set to sign-off on a plan to boost its military capacity across Europe. In a late-night press conference, the Russian leader also said his troops would not stop pushing forward in Ukraine and ...

NATO Chief Urges 400% Increase in Alliance's Air Defense

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte on Monday was due to urge a "400-percent increase" in the transatlantic alliance's air and missile defence capacities in response to the threat from Russia. "We see in Ukraine how Russia delivers terror from above, so we will strengthen the shield that protects our skies," Rutte was due to say in a speech to the ...

US Pressures NATO to Seal Deal on Ramping Up Defense Spending

US defense chief Pete Hegseth on Thursday pushed NATO to agree to a deal on ramping up defense spending that can satisfy President Donald Trump at a summit later this month. The volatile US leader has demanded that alliance members agree to boost defense budgets to five percent of their GDP at the June 24-25 meeting in The Netherlands. NATO ...

NATO Wrestles Over How to Handle Ukraine at Trump Summit

How to have Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky at NATO's Hague summit and avoid a bust-up with US President Donald Trump? What to say on Kyiv's desire to join their alliance? With NATO appearing on track to seal a deal on ramping up defense spending, another thorny issue now threatens to overshadow the gathering in three weeks: what to do about ...

Trump to Attend NATO Summit in The Hague

US President Donald Trump will attend a NATO summit in The Hague later in June where his demands to ramp up defense spending will dominate the agenda, the White House said Tuesday. Trump has long criticized NATO partners for not paying their fair share and had not previously confirmed he would attend the meeting, his first with the transatlantic ...

Zelensky Arrives in Vilnius for Nato Eastern Flank Summit

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived Monday in Vilnius for a summit with the leaders of NATO's eastern and Nordic members, who are some of Kyiv's staunchest backers amid the Russian invasion. The military alliance has bolstered its eastern defenses since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, with Finland and Sweden also overhauling ...