NATO fears Russia-US talks – AFP
European NATO members have raised concerns that Washington’s rapprochement with Moscow and the sidelining of the EU during talks could weaken the US-led military bloc, according to AFP, citing Western diplomats.
The US and Russia have held several high-level meetings in Saudi Arabia and Türkiye aimed at ending the Ukraine conflict and improving diplomatic ties, with another round of talks expected.
In a report published on Wednesday, unnamed NATO diplomats said signals from Washington that it may shift its forces away from Europe, combined with US President Donald Trump’s outreach to Russia, have sparked fears among member states.
“We know the direction: less US in the alliance,” one NATO diplomat told AFP. “Our interest is to keep the maximum US in the alliance.”
EU countries have been ramping up military expenditure and weapons production, driven by Trump’s demand to more than double NATO’s spending target to 5% of GDP.
“We always knew that the moment would come when America would sort of step back,” according to former NATO official Jamie Shea. The US should present a clear timeline if it plans to scale down its military presence in Europe, the diplomats reportedly said.
European NATO members see the ongoing US-Russia talks as a potentially fundamental threat to the bloc, according to AFP. For now, the diplomats hope Trump’s outreach to Moscow is a tactical move aimed at securing a deal to end the hostilities, the outlet added.
“If it is a strategic shift, then of course it’s a big problem,” one of the diplomats said. “The level of optimism is certainly dropping,” another added.
Trump recently commented that NATO expansion and its outreach to Ukraine during former US President Joe Biden’s time in the White House were among the factors that led to the conflict with Russia.
Moscow has condemned NATO’s expansion towards its borders, describing the bloc as a threat to national security. Russian officials, including President Vladimir Putin, have stressed that NATO’s push to include Ukraine was one of the root causes behind the escalation of the conflict in 2022.
Russia has also denied the claims of NATO member states that it intends to attack the military bloc. Putin has dismissed the speculation as “complete nonsense.”
