A selected list of quotes at yesterday’s summit speeches. They do not realize they’ve lost and their chosen ‘man’, Ukraine is being destroyed by Russia.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis in Ankara: An alliance needs to be based on the fundamental principle of good neighborly relations. My country is still faced with an open threat of war by Türkiye. The sensitivities of all NATO allies need to be taken into consideration. I am sure the issues can be resolved in the spirit of cooperation.
Swedish PM Ulf Kristersson in Ankara: Ukraine is actually procuring the new generation of Gripen fighter — the E generation of it. We have signed a deal with 16 fighter jets. At the same time, we donate the same number of pre-owned fighter jets, so we’ll deliver all together 32.
Russia is unwilling to negotiate but also unable to win against Ukraine. We need to be extremely prepared for a lot of different scenarios regarding Russia.
Hungary’s PM Péter Magyar: We maintain our humanitarian assistance to Ukraine. But, as I have said many times before, Hungary will not provide arms or troops to Ukraine.
Ukraine is the victim. Russia is the brutal aggressor. Ukraine has the right to defend its territorial integrity.
Polish President Nawrocki at NATO Summit in Ankara: We have almost 10,000 American soldiers in Poland. We would like to set up the permanent camp — a permanent camp for American soldiers in Poland. And I’m sure that American soldiers in Poland will stay, and together with Polish soldiers will secure Central Eastern Europe and the borders of NATO.
Bulgarian PM Rumen Radev: We have exhausted our capabilities to provide military support. I mean weapons and munitions from the warehouses of the Bulgarian Armed Forces. We have provided 13 packages. We don’t have anything to supply to Ukraine.
Denmark’s PM Mette Frederiksen at NATO Summit in Ankara: I would not be able to secure my people without NATO. And I think the same goes for the US.
Greenland is, of course, not for sale. We hope that all allies will respect the Greenlandic people’s right to self-determination. We are a sovereign state, and we need everybody to respect our territorial integrity and our sovereignty.
We need to help Ukraine even more, put more pressure on Russia, and ensure that the only right winner of this war, of course, will be Ukraine.
Netherlands’s PM Rob Jetten at NATO Summit in Ankara: We’ve shown over the past few months that we are quite capable to defend this continent ourselves, but obviously with the help of the Americans. And we are redesigning NATO to NATO 3.0, and we’re doing a great job.
We have tripled our defense spending, a lot of other countries have also increased it massively, and over the past few days we’ve seen many deals on military cooperation between European allies, showing that a stronger Europe is also in the benefit of all of us.
Canada’s Carney at NATO Summit in Ankara: President Trump wants to see that shift in burden. I would remind that President Obama wanted to see that shift too. I think it’s appropriate.
We were spending one and a half percent of GDP on defense. It’s now going to be 4 percent in the next two years. That gives an order of magnitude. We just completed our largest defense procurement — with submarines — announced it two days ago. So the burdens are shifting away from the United States towards Canada and Europe.
NATO’s Rutte to Putin and Russia: Don’t play with us. We will never attack anyone. We will only defend our way of life, our democracies, our territory.
You cannot defend yourself with dollars, pounds, euros, or liras. You have to protect yourself with men and women in uniform. You have to recruit them. You need a defense industrial output.
Reporter: What is your reaction to the recent U.S. attacks on Iran? NATO’s Rutte: I think it was absolutely necessary. Iran is violating the ceasefire.
I expect allies today to reconfirm that Iran should never ever get its hands on a nuclear capability.
