NATO chief urges Europe to arm against Russia

'It is time to shift to a wartime mindset,' Rutte said at the Carnegie Europe think-tank in Brussels

(Image credit: Omar Havana / Getty Images)

What happened

New NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte warned Europe Thursday that Russia's Vladimir Putin wants to "wipe Ukraine off the map" and might come for other parts of Europe next. "It is time to shift to a wartime mindset," Rutte said at the Carnegie Europe think tank in Brussels, in his first major speech since taking NATO's helm in October.

Who said what

Putin is "preparing for long-term confrontation" and "trying to crush our freedom and way of life," Rutte said. Russia is spending 7-8% of GDP on defense, he said, and European nations will have to spend "a lot more" than the NATO target of 2% to blunt Putin's expansionist aggression.

Putin, meanwhile, was "scrambling to save face" after his "humiliating loss" of influence in Syria, The Washington Post said. Russia's failure to save ally Bashar al-Assad's regime dealt a "stunning blow" to Putin's key goal of "forging Russia into a great world power competing globally with the United States."

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What next?

President-elect Donald Trump reiterated Sunday that he would "absolutely" consider pulling the U.S. from NATO if America's military allies were not "paying their bills" or "treating us fairly." Rutte's reputation as a "Trump whisperer" is "a very big reason he was chosen as NATO secretary general," the BBC said.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.