Rutte defends the ‘Arctic Sentinel’ mission against accusations of being a mere gesture to Trump

The Secretary General of NATO, Mark Rutte, has defended the ‘Arctic Sentinel’ mission, launched by the Atlantic Alliance a couple of weeks ago, against accusations that it is a mere gesture to try to appease the intentions of the president of the United States, Donald Trump, to take over Greenland, the territory of another member state of the organization.

Asked in a press conference about the criticism that the so-called ‘Artic Sentry’ in English is just a name change to please the tenant of the White House, Rutte responded that the mission is “substantial” for the defense of the region and that it is a response to Washington’s “wake-up call” for the growing presence of Russia and China in the region.

The head of NATO has defended that ‘Arctic Sentinel’ “not only takes advantage of what already exists” with the coordination of operations that are underway on the ground, but also serves to close security “gaps” and make the investments that have to be made more efficient, “increasing and modernizing” the Alliance’s capabilities and improving its entire collective security.

Rutte, who held a meeting this Thursday with the Prime Minister of Lithuania, Inga Ruginiene, detailed that among the participating countries are the United States Marines, the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom, the navy of the Netherlands and other countries within Norway’s ‘Cold Response’ exercise, one of the main missions already deployed in the Arctic.

“We also see Spanish, French and German forces participating through the NATO Permanent Maritime Group number one, carrying out air defense and maritime security exercises within the framework of the ‘Dynamic Mariner’ exercise. These and other activities are complemented by the ongoing efforts of NATO Air Police in Iceland, as well as with the Danish Joint Arctic Command in Greenland,” he detailed.

However, he has ruled out giving specific figures for the mission deployed in February, claiming that he does not want Russia or any other country to know better about NATO’s deployment in the Arctic, but that in any case “it is about integrating” what already exists.

The Secretary General of the Alliance has once again highlighted the role of the President of the United States with his pressure on the rest of NATO partners, since, in his opinion, if it had not been for Donald Trump, the European partners would not have increased their defense spending and would not be doing “more and more” to improve collective security.