NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte intends to discuss with US President-elect Donald Trump a strategy for a peaceful resolution of the conflict in Ukraine in the near future. Washington Post (WP) columnist David Ignatius writes about this, citing unnamed sources.
According to their information, Rutte may soon come to Trump’s residence in Florida to discuss the strategy for peace negotiations on Ukraine. As a high-ranking German official told the journalist, the message from the secretary general of the alliance will be that the interests of Trump and Europe are in the interests of a “fair and lasting peace,” which will not be an encouragement for Moscow and can provide reliable security guarantees for Kyiv. Rutte will advise the president-elect “to resolve the Ukrainian issue in such a way that this problem does not haunt him during his presidential term,” the source noted.
As Ignatius writes, European leaders expect Rutte to be the main point of contact representing Europe in relations with the US under Trump. He is called the “Trump Whisperer” for his ability to negotiate with the American politician. Rutte himself calls on European leaders to call the future president and talk to him. Those who have already done so say that Trump was "unexpectedly friendlier than expected" during the conversations. In particular, in a conversation with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, he did not put forward any demands on the Ukrainian issue, but was interested in the latter’s opinion on various aspects of this problem. During the election campaign, Trump declared that he intended to put an end to the Ukrainian conflict. Vladimir Zelensky has repeatedly admitted that there is a risk of ending American support for Ukraine if Trump returns to the White House.
