Joint press conference

Prime Minister, dear ,

Welcome to my home, which is the official residence of the NATO Secretary General,

And to Brussels, which is the home of NATO.

Latvia has been a robust Ally since you joined the Alliance two decades ago.

You spend almost 3 percent of GDP on defence.

You host a Multinational battlegroup where Allies work side by side to defend NATO's eastern flank.

As well as military exercises to ensure that Latvian and Allied armed forces maintain a high level of readiness and interoperability.

You also contribute to our peacekeeping mission in Kosovo and our training mission in Iraq,

Helping to increase stability beyond NATO’s borders.

Today our discussions focused very much on strengthening our deterrence and defence.

Since 2014, NATO has undertaken the largest reinforcement of our collective defence in a generation.

With more forces, more resources, and at higher readiness.

But in this more complex and dangerous world, we must go further and faster.

Latvia is leading by example with your commitment to increase defence spending to 3 percent of GDP by 2027, though I understand you’ll reach the goal even sooner than expected.

We also discussed Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine.

Russia continues to advance in the east, albeit at a very high cost to them,

it has relentlessly attacked Ukrainians’ critical energy infrastructure, with winter just around the corner.

So, we must deliver on the commitments we made at the Washington Summit.

Latvia has provided extensive military training for Ukrainian soldiers.

You lead a coalition that works with industry to supply drones.

And I welcome your recent announcement of a new military aid package, including armoured personnel vehicles.
So dear Evika,

Thank you once again for everything you do for our shared security.

I look forward to continue to work closely together in the future. 

And for now, you have the floor.

NATO Spokesperson Farah Dakhlallah: Thank you. We'll take some questions now. We'll start with Latvian Radio.

Artjoms Konohovs (Latvijas Radio): Question to both of you, there was an assessment publicly from the German Secret Service just recently, this week, about Russia being able, by 2030 to potentially have enough force to attack NATO, possibly. What do you make out of that assessment? What's your view on whether they will be able to do that?

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte: Let me be absolutely clear, NATO stands ready to confront any enemy, any adversary, who tries to attack us now and in the future, we are massively investing more in our defence, investing in our defence industry. Of course, we are massively helping Ukraine to prevail and to make sure that Putin will not get his way in Ukraine, and we will defend every inch of NATO territory, it's absolutely clear, and we will do whatever is necessary now and in the future to achieve that. So that would be my clear answer to that question.

NATO Spokesperson Farah Dakhlallah: Ok, we’ll go to Latvian TV.

Ilze Nagla (Latvian Television): Latvian Television for the Secretary General. Recently, Latvia encountered Russian military drone who flew in Latvian territory. And some people society in Latvia were a bit surprised that there were no comment, no reaction from the NATO. What you would say to those people, and will that change now with you as Secretary General?

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte: Well, we follow this extremely closely. And this was on the seventh of September, so of course this was a big thing happening at that moment. Clearly, that's true. It's up to Allies, of course, to make sure that they themselves, first of all, and then making sure that coordinating those others. And I know that Latvia is doing that, that we try to improve our response to these type of incursions. They are highly worrying. They are not acceptable. Sometimes, with a war going on in Ukraine, you might see that stuff gets off track, but we always have to make sure that we find out whether it is intentional or not. And NATO is coordinating this together with Allies and informing each other on a day by day basis, on an hour by hour basis, of what is happening and making sure that we can respond.

NATO Spokesperson Farah Dakhlallah: Ok, we’ll go to Bloomberg.

Andrea Palasciano (Bloomberg): Secretary General, thank you for having us. Prime Minister, you mentioned 3% more than 2% for NATO for defence. How will you get the countries who are not meeting the minimum threshold to get to 2% and beyond.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte: Well, let's first of all agree that the good news is that where in 2014 we only had three countries at 2% the UK, Greece and the US, now we have 23 countries at 2% and that NATO, if you would carve out the US for a moment that then the rest of NATO is doing the 2% I'm absolutely convinced 2% will not be enough, because of all the targets we want to achieve and the gaps we still have to fill to make sure that, not only now but also the future, we stand ready to defend NATO territory. And that's the debate which is ongoing. What does it means in terms of the capabilities? What are countries having to do, which capabilities they need to achieve, which targets they need to reach, etc. That's the debate we are having. It's a very important debate. But let me be clear, at this moment, 2% will not be the end. We need more, but exactly what a percentage is, and whether it is a NATO right, or whatever, that's still to be debated.

NATO Spokesperson Farah Dakhlallah: Ok, thank you. We’ll go to Reuters.

Lili Bayer (Reuters): Madam Prime Minister, what would be your message to Allies when it comes to the issue of air incursions into the Alliance? And Secretary General, I was wondering if you'd like to comment on where Allies are when it comes to fulfilling the 40 billion pledge. Are you satisfied with progress thus far? Thank you.

Latvian Prime Minister, Evika Siliņa: My answer will be, first, I would thank NATO for helping us, because we are NATO. Latvia is a member of NATO, and just when we gave a notice that there is something in our air happening, NATO has reacted very rapidly and very quickly so and in our country, you can see NATO in practice. And I believe this is what I would say to other allies which may be not so close to border of Russia that you need to come to our country to see how NATO really operates in practice. You can see it in our country. We have 14 different NATO countries working together, and this is really tremendous work, what we have reached. Thanks to as well to the Canadians which have done a big job, not just giving us our leadership, but as well as all the support that is needed for a real NATO country.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte: Thank you. And on the on the pledge. This afternoon, there will be a press conference basically looking into the Thursday and Friday defence ministers meeting, and I was planning to update you at that occasion. So please come all of you, and then I will have some news on this.

NATO Spokesperson Farah Dakhlallah: Ok, AFP.

Simon Wolfhart (AFP): I was wondering if you could help me to understand NATO's strategy in Ukraine, because sometimes we hear NATO is here to help Ukraine to win the war, but also not to lose the war. So I would like to understand the difference and where exactly NATO is.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte: We want to prevent for Putin to get his way in Ukraine. That is unacceptable. You cannot invade another country in the world of 2022, 2023, 2024, we moved beyond colonization. We have decolonized large parts of the world. We are not going to recolonize another country. That's unacceptable. So we will not have Putin get his way in Ukraine. And that means that we massively support Ukraine with military aid to make sure that they are in a position to fight back. At the moment, we see that on the eastern line, the Russians are making small advances, but at a considerable cost. And I'm every day impressed by Ukraine's ingenuity, its creativity, its ability to come up with new ideas, new solutions, including new defence solutions, including what they are doing with drones and all the rest. What we have to do is to make sure that Ukraine can continue doing this. And therefore the US with the 8 billion announcement of President Biden, but also all the other Allies, we are working very hard to make sure they can prevail. Putin will not get his way, and to make sure that if ever one day, [President] Zelenskyy and his team will decide to discuss with Russia how to end this, that he will do this from a position of strength, from a position of strength, so that he can dominate those talks.

Latvian Prime Minister, Evika Siliņa: I agree with General Secretary General on that, because I believe we as a NATO country, we are always supporting Ukraine to give them what they need, not to let Putin win this war, and Ukraine will be the one who will decide how the war will end.

NATO Spokesperson Farah Dakhlallah: Thank you very much, thank you all.