Joint press conference

President Rinkēvičs, dear Edgars,

It is a great honour to be here with you at Ādaži,
and a privilege to see the troops who defend Latvia and our Alliance.

Our collective strength transcends borders and crosses oceans.

There are boots on the ground from North America, with
Canada leading this NATO multinational brigade.
And as we know, more than 12 nations from across Europe are by their side.
From the High North, to the Western Balkans.
From the North Atlantic coast, to the Baltic Sea.

Europe and North America together.
All for one, and one for all.

I welcome that the [brigade] in Ādaži has increased to
around 3,000 soldiers.
Because more NATO means more security for all of us.

I was impressed to see the troops in action in the first brigade-level exercise today, Resolute Warrior.

Exercises are how NATO keeps ready for anything.
They give our forces experience of working together.
And we could see this now in real-life action.
It will make us more prepared to deter any aggression.
And demonstrate our ability to defend all Allies.

Dear Edgars,
I want to thank Latvia for hosting this [brigade] and also for today’s exercise.

Latvia leads by example.

You are, as you said, spending more than 3% of GDP on defence.
You are planning to do even more next year.
But we need more defence spending and we need increased defence production across the Alliance.
To have the right forces, but also to have the right capabilities to keep our people safe.

I also welcome Latvia’s steadfast support for Ukraine.
With military equipment, ammunition and with training.

Ukraine is in urgent need of our help.
Putin will use winter as a weapon.
He will try to destroy Ukraine’s power system.

So we all must boost up our support for Ukraine, including with air and missile defences to protect critical infrastructure.

Our support for Ukraine is the right thing to do.
To help them prevail as an independent and sovereign nation.
It is also the right thing to do for our own security.

Latvia can always count on NATO, and I know NATO can always count on Latvia.

Thank you very much.

LETA News Agency

Hello, my question is to the Secretary General. There is still some time until the NATO summit in Hague, but what would be the main issues that the member states should come to an agreement coming up to the summit?

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte

There will be a couple of big issues we need to debate over the coming months. Of course, first of all, we have to make sure that Ukraine prevails and that Putin will not win in Ukraine. That is absolute priority number one. But behind that, there are two other big issues at stake. One is that 2%, when you take out the US spending, we are now at 2% in Europe as NATO, it is simply not enough. As the President just was saying, it is simply not enough. So we will need to have the debate on spending more.

And another big issue is defence production. We are not producing enough at this moment. We have to do more to replenish our stockpiles, to make sure that we are ready to face off any adversary. So these two issues, defence spending and defence production. And all of this, working with our partners, the EU, but also in the Indo Pacific, including Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, the southern neighbourhood. This is crucial. But defence spending and ramping up defence production, we have to get this done.

Simon Kruse Rasmussen, Berlingske Medier

Thank you. This is an Article 5 exercise that we've witnessed in the past days. What would be your message for European Allies who are worried about Donald Trump's previous statements on Article 5 and Alliance responsibilities? Thank you.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte

I have worked with Donald Trump for four years in my previous role as Prime Minister of the Netherlands, and I had a very good working relationship with him. He will do everything needed to defend United States, and he is well aware that the membership of NATO is part of the defence of the US. Look what is happening at the moment, Ukraine.

North Korean soldiers now being active in Russia and helping Russia with the war effort against Ukraine. Russia is paying for this, for example, by missile technology which is now being delivered to North Korea. This is a direct threat, not only to Europe, but also to Japan, South Korea and the US mainland.

So we are connected in this. The Indo Pacific and the Euro Atlantic, we are connected. It is China, through sanction circumvention, through dual use goods they deliver into Russia, which is helping Russia with the war effort. It is Iran, with drones delivery, other technologies. Russia paying for that, and therefore making it possible for Iran to continue its very negative influence on the Middle East and even beyond.

So, Russia, China, North Korea, Iran, working together. The US understands this, that NATO is there not only to defend Europe and the US, but also to work together to make sure that the Indo Pacific and the transatlantic stay safe.

And I look forward to work with Donald Trump. I had a good phone call with him last week. We have worked as friends when I was Prime Minister. We will do so again when he becomes the new president of the US.

Mattia Bagnoli, ANSA

Hello. I'm here. First of all, a question for both of you. What we have seen here is a demonstration of what Allies can do, even without US. There is no US in this demonstration. So is this a proof that there is life within NATO, beyond the US? And secondly, it's about Ukraine. Is the invitation to join NATO a possible element to a peace plan? As we've seen leaked in the press, Trump has some ideas, seems on how to handle this quickly. And would you be, both of you, in favour of Ukraine joining NATO sooner rather than later? Thank you.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte
The United States is an integral part of NATO. They have founded the Alliance. They are not into NATO because of some historical reason that they didn't want to repeat a mistake after the First World War, not to repeat a mistake after the Second World War. They know that this is an integral part of their defence, of our defence, our collective defence.

And sometimes we talk about frontline states. Let me make absolutely clear, the Netherlands and France and the United Kingdom are frontline states. We are there together with the Baltics, Poland, and all the other member states of NATO. We are all frontline states. There is not a frontline state which is closer to Russia or farther away from Russia. And we need the US. The US needs us. We need each other to work on this. It was Trump who, from 2016 onwards, was pushing us on this part of NATO to spend more on defence. Look what's happening. Latvia moving up to north of 3.5%. Overall, EU, NATO now at 2% and we need to do more. We need to ramp up industry production. So, on all of this, we need the US. The US needs us. We are together in NATO, all for one, one for all.

Then on Ukraine, it is only the Ukrainian government which can decide to start talks with Russia on how to end this. But they have to do this from a position of strength, and that is why we need to continue to deliver defence aid into Ukraine to make sure that they will be in that position of strength when the day comes at their decision.

And we have made clear in NATO that their future will be in NATO. That is a decision we repeated again at the NATO Summit in Washington, the irreversible path towards NATO membership for Ukraine. And we are building the bridge by the 40 billion [euro] pledge, by the command we are setting up in Wiesbaden, by all the bilateral security agreements many Allies have now made bilaterally with Ukraine. This is building the bridge towards future NATO membership for Ukraine.