Former NATO Secretary General and Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen spoke to Euronews about the expected impact of President Donald Trump’s return on the Ukraine war and NATO.
US President Elect Donald Trump’s unpredictability might cause concern in Moscow, and Ukraine might receive more arms under his leadership, ex-NATO chief Anders Rasmussen has told Euronews in an interview, during which he cautioned Trump: “Don’t make Ukraine your Afghanistan.”
The former Danish Prime Minister said of Trump: “He does not like to be a loser, he wants to be a winner. And to be a winner you need to have good deal.”
Such a deal means that Ukraine might receive more weapons and see restrictions on the use of weapons lifted, Rasmussen believes.
“Putin might be negatively surprised by Mr Trump,” said Rasmussen, adding: “I would just say: Mr Trump, don’t make Ukraine your Afghanistan.”
Since leading NATO, Rasmussen created a Global Foundation with offices in Copenhagen, Brussels and Kiev.
“I have a very clear message to the new American president – don’t let Ukraine to become your Afghanistan,” said Rasmussen, adding: “Don’t let Putin to defeat you, be a strong leader, seek for a peace in Ukraine but fair, just and lasting peace which will guarantee security in future.”
On the issue of whether any future peace deal should curtail Ukraine’s membership of NATO, Rasmussen is hawkish.
“It must be a settlement which will guarantee stability for Ukraine. In my opinion it will mean to allow Ukraine to become member of NATO and to be covered by Article 5,” he said, citing the dictum that when a NATO member is the victim of an armed attack, the Alliance considers it an attack against all members.
On Trump’s impact on NATO more generally, Rasmussen was also bullish. Trump has repeatedly criticised the alliance and complained that the US contributes too much to its budget while EU members spend too little on defence. During his election campaign, he said the US would only defend NATO members from a future attack by Russia if they met their spending obligations on defence.
“NATO has survived since its establishment in 1949 and I don’t think that Trump will withdraw from NATO. But it very much up to us in Europe to ensure a strong NATO in the future by taking more responsibility for our future,” he said, adding that the current target for NATO members to spend 2% of GDP on defence, should be pushed to 3%. Such a figure is more reflective of the Cold War and “we should go back to this level”, he said.
Asked what advice he would offer Mark Rutte, the organisation’s new secretary-general, Rasmussen pressed on the theme of financing. “I hope that he will continue to pushing for more investment in defence. All alliance members should invest much more in our own security in Europe,” he said.
