(13 Feb 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Brussels – 13 February 2025
1. Various of Secretary-General of NATO Mark Rutte coming towards journalists, flags nearby
2. SOUNDBITE (English), Mark Rutte, NATO Secretary-General:
"We all want Ukraine to be in the best possible position when those talks start, to make sure that they can be concluded successfully, and as also Pete Hegseth said yesterday, the new American Secretary of Defense, it is crucial that whatever comes out of those talks is durable. It is enduring. No Minsk III. We cannot have that again. We cannot have (Russian President Vladimir) Putin again trying to capture a square kilometer, a square mile of Ukraine, in the future."
++BLACK FRAMES+++
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Mark Rutte, NATO Secretary-General:
"This alliance is a family, as Pete Hegseth said yesterday, and so many others. It is there for generations to come. We are there to make sure that we have the best possible deterrence in place to fight off any adversary, now and in the future, but that means that we have to get to a good deal in Ukraine, we have to ramp up defense spending. We have to ramp up defense industrial production. These are clear tasks we collectively have. We will debate them. We might not always agree immediately, but as always, in the end, we come to a common position."
++BLACK FRAMES++
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Mark Rutte, Secretary General of NATO:
"It clearly gives the impression that it was a successful phone call. We all want peace in Ukraine. Obviously, we have to make sure that Ukraine is in the best possible position. It is crucial that when a peace deal is struck, that a peace deal is enduring, that Putin knows that this is the end and that he can never again try to capture a piece of Ukraine. So that has to be part of those negotiations. And no doubt that is also on the minds of (U.S.) President Trump and the American team. And today, in the coming days, in the coming week, obviously, we will closely coordinate between allies."
5. Various of Rutte leaving
STORYLINE:
NATO chief Mark Rutte said he stressed to new U.S. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth that any peace negotiations between Ukraine and Russia must be "durable" and "enduring".
Rutte told reporters that both NATO and Ukraine must not be cut out of any negotiations, after U.S. President Donald Trump signaled that he would hold talks soon with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"We have to make sure that Ukraine is in the best possible position," he added.
He emphasized that any future peace deal cannot be implemented until Putin knows "he can never again try to capture a piece of Ukraine".
Rutte also said that NATO’s goals for the upcoming year will include increasing European defense spending and production.
Hegseth told Ukraine’s Western backers on Wednesday that NATO membership for Ukraine was unrealistic.
He also suggested Kyiv should abandon hopes of winning all its territory back from Russia and instead prepare for a negotiated peace settlement to be backed up by international troops.
AP video by Sylvain Plazy and Mark Carlson
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