Donald Trump seems to have dashed Vladimir Putin’s hopes of sparking a major rift within NATO, as alliance leaders convene for a summit in The Hague. The Russian president has long aimed to disrupt NATO unity in his efforts to weaken the military bloc.
He has consistently seen the organisation as an existential threat to Russia, and criticised its eastward expansion, using Ukraine’s aspiration to join NATO as a justification for his brutal war. At the heart of NATO’s security pact is its commitment to the collective defence of member states as enshrined in Article 5.
Collective defence means that an attack against one ally is considered an attack against all.
One of the Kremlin’s key goals has been to undermine that commitment by exploiting tensions between European members and the Trump administration.
Putin seemed to have scored a major victory after the US President suggested his administration was reviewing its stance on Article 5.
Asked whether the US would uphold its obligations to collective defence, Trump told reporters on Air Force One: “Depends on your definition. There are numerous definitions of Article 5.
“You know that, right? But I’m committed to being their friends.”
However, the US President was less ambiguous when questioned again about Article 5 in a joint press conference with the head of NATO, Mark Rutte, on Wednesday.
In a major blow to Putin, Trump reaffirmed the US commitment to NATO, saying: “We are with them all the way.”
NATO leaders are expected to agree to ramp up defence spending to 5% of their countries’ economic output at the “historic” summit in the Netherlands.
Trump has accused NATO European members of not spending enough on defence and free-loading off the US.
He has previously said he would “encourage” Russia to attack any Nato member that fails to pay its fair share of security costs.
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Rutte acknowledged that things had to change in his opening summit remarks, saying: “For too long, one ally, the United States, carried too much of the burden.That changes today.”
For his part, the US president said it was a “great victory for everybody, I think. We will be equalised shortly, and that’s the way it has to be”.
