NATO Secretary General visits a battlegroup protecting the eastern flank

Prime minister Michal, dear Kristen,

Thank you so much for welcoming me today in beautiful Tallinn. Good to be back.

It is a pleasure to be here, and to meet with you.

Estonia is a valued NATO Ally, and has been for 20 years now.

Your country contributes a great deal to our shared security.

You host NATO’s UK-led multinational battlegroup in Tapa, helping to deter aggression on the Eastern flank of our Alliance.

I look forward to visiting the base tomorrow and meeting the troops there.

Estonia also hosts a new regional hub for DIANA and NATO’s Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence here in Tallinn, and NATO’s Baltic Air Policing at Ämari Air Base.

I welcome Estonia’s significant contribution to NATO’s high readiness forces, and your efforts to further improve  readiness.

By spending over 3% of your GDP on defence, Estonia is truly leading by example.
And I know you intend to invest even more in our shared security in the coming years.

Investing more is something all Allies will need to do, to meet our capability targets.

This is essential for us to continue to deter and defend against the challenges we face.

Here in Estonia, you know how close some of those challenges can be.

My first official travel as NATO Secretary General was to Kyiv, where I met with President Zelenskyy and reiterated NATO’s steadfast commitment to Ukraine.

Estonia is among Ukraine’s strongest supporters, having provided over 500 million Euros of military aid since 2022.

And you have committed to supporting Ukraine with at least 0.25% of your GDP for the years to come.

Today we discussed how to bolster our support for Ukraine, now, through the difficult winter ahead, you already mentioned it, and also for the long-term.

Russia continues to attack Ukraine’s critical energy infrastructure. And as winter approaches, our support to Ukraine remains critical.

We are also working hard to deliver on the commitments made at the Washington Summit in July.
Including a new Command to coordinate security assistance and training for Ukraine,
And our financial pledge of at least 40 billion euros in 2024.

We also discussed ways to further strengthen NATO’s defences.
Including steps to make this region more secure.

This week, Germany inaugurated a new [Allied] naval command centre for the Baltic region, which will better protect key supply and trade routes, and critical infrastructure, making the Baltic waters safer and more secure.

Dear Kristen, thanks again for your steadfast commitment to our transatlantic Alliance.

It’s an honour to be here, and I look forward to working with you, and of course maybe to answer a few questions.

Journalist

[Inaudible] As you know, Russia has weaponized migrants to basically create a dilemma for Estonia Poland Finland, that we either bring them in and invite more of the same or push them out and deal with the consequences in terms of humanitarian law, our rules-based world order and so on, also the sabotage acts in Europe and so on and so on. Do you see that NATO has a role in deterring these acts? And do you see that the Washington Treaty with its relevant articles is sort of enough to deal with it? So basically, do you see a role for NATO in terms of deterring these sabotage acts? And also the migration question? Thanks.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte

Well, on migration, I would think first of all, the EU is, of course, dealing with this, and we are coordinating closely with the European Union and also amongst Allies. So of course, this is an issue which is also on our agenda. But foremost, I would say it is an issue which is dealt with at the EU level, which is also logical, because when it comes to asylum policies and refugees, etc, but also how to make sure that you confront nations who weaponize these routes of migration against member states of the European Union or Allies of NATO, that we have a concept, that we have a concerted reaction to that, and that we are strongly aligned on how to deal with this. So this is, first of all, the EU when it comes, of course, more to, let’s say, the cyber threats, the hybrid threats when it comes to incursions. And obviously it is also NATO, which is very much involved, and even more so, I think, than the European Union and these issues are coordinated closely within NATO. We make sure that we stand ready, that we can confront any threat which threatens NATO’s territory, and particularly when it comes to the Incursions that we make sure that we have the right answers. This is a step by step approach, but we are working very hard on that, and it is crucial to keep the Alliance safe.

Estonia Prime Minister Kristen Michal

A few words about the migration because last European Council, my first to be honest, it was dealing lots with migration questions. Because in the south, you have climate issues, economic issues, conflict issues, and in the north and Baltics, you have, as already mentioned, weaponizing migration. So this is usually Russia’s game right now. Finns have the borders already closed. So this is also part and possibility for hybrid FETs. So EU is strongly talking about it. And I would say that migration policy is a little bit getting more in line with today’s problems at Russia using the migrants as a weapon. So, as Matt already mentioned, this is EU policy and EU question, but it also could be in the future, also a hybrid threat for NATO.

Estonian Daily Postimees 

[Inaudible] I wanted to ask about NSATU. As far as I understand, it’s not fully operational yet. I wanted to ask how big percentage of the pledges made in Washington have been fulfilled already, and how many people are you still waiting for and good countries like Estonia who have done their part by Estonia? In Estonian case, I think with one person now, could help if they sent some more and from our prime minister, would we be willing to help out if some extra people need to be sent? Thanks.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte

NSATU was an important outcome of the Washington Summit. It is the command being set up in Wiesbaden to coordinate weapons deliveries into Ukraine. And we know that many Allies are working on getting weapons systems into Ukraine. You want to make the smartest combination so that you help Ukraine to the max, but also training. Other issues will be dealt with. At the moment, other structures are working on this. As long as NSATU is not there, we make sure that at high speed and without delay, everything continues in terms of help to Ukraine, we now think that NSATU could be fully operational by the end of the year. We are working very hard on that. Many Allies have already provided personnel to and set you then, of course, you also have to make sure that they get deployed physically there, not only on paper, but also physically there. That’s also getting better and better, and we are in constant communication with Allies to make sure that those vacancies are filled. So I’m relatively confident that by the end of the year, we will be there. But the most important thing is that as long as this not finally done, that there is no gap in the work being done on training, on weapons deliveries, etc, into Ukraine, because we can’t afford that any other decisions in Washington. JATEC being set up in Poland to capture all the learnings and make sure that Ukraine becomes fully interoperable with NATO. The 40 billion pledge – we are half a half way this year, we are halfway, and even a bit more, 21 billion. So that is good news. Obviously, we need more. So we’re working step by step on all these issues. And I think we’re getting there.

Estonian Public Broadcaster

[Inaudible], Estonian Public Broadcaster. My question goes also to Secretary General. So the summit of BRICS is now going on in Kazan, Russia and NATO member state, Türkiye is also presented there. And as we know, Türkiye also wants to apply a membership in BRICS, Russia dominated organization. So must we be concerned?

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte

Well, let’s not forget that Türkiye is a very important ally in the Alliance. It has one of the best equipped military forces in NATO. It plays a vital role in its part of the NATO geography. It provides a lot of capabilities to NATO as a whole. So we are very happy and glad with the fact that Türkiye is, for so many years now, an integral part of the Alliance. And obviously within the Alliance, being a democracy, 32 countries, there will always be debates on this and that. But we know that Türkiye is also working towards or with some of the BRICS partners. They have the sovereign right to do so that might lead to debates now and then, within bilaterally or within NATO. But that doesn’t mean that Türkiye is not, it is still and it will always be, to my absolute conviction, NATO is very popular in Türkiye, and Türkiye is very popular in NATO. So we have to make sure that we make maximum use of each other, and we are so happy that they are an Ally of ours. Thank you.

Bloomberg News

Hi, [inaudible] from Bloomberg News. Question for Mark Rutte about North Korean troops in Ukraine. You said a few days ago that it was that you you weren’t able to confirm, based on your own information, that that North Korean troops were actively engaged in the Ukrainian front so far. Has that changed according to the latest information that you have in NATO? Thanks.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte

Well, I discussed this yesterday in a telephone call with the president of South Korea, and of course, we also discussed the ongoing cooperation between South Korea and NATO, and we just ended on Thursday a very successful meeting of the NATO Defence Ministers, together with their colleagues from the Australia, New Zealand, South Korea and Japan. But this phone call yesterday was very much focusing on the issue of the DPRK, so North Korea. I asked the president, and he said, I will absolutely do that; to send experts from the Republic of Korea to brief the North Atlantic Council. That will now happen early next week, and then we will see whether North Korea is indeed, or not, supporting Russia’s illegal war in Ukraine. If that would be the case, if they would be sending troops to Ukraine, that would mark a significant escalation. That would really be important, a significant escalation. So at this moment, I cannot confirm it. Other than that we will get the latest update from South Korea earlier next week.

Source – NATO

Source – NATO