NATO Secretary General with the President of Estonia Alar Karis 🇪🇪, 03 SEP 2025

Описание: Joint press conference by NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte with the President of Estonia, Alar Karis 🇪🇪 on 03 September 2025.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and Estonian President Alar Karis met in Brussels to discuss NATO’s ongoing support to Ukraine, deterrence and defence, and the implementation of key decisions from the NATO Summit in The Hague.

The Secretary General thanked Estonia for its major contributions to the Alliance, highlighting its role in hosting the UK-led Forward Land Forces in Tapa and NATO’s Baltic Air Policing mission at Ämari Air Base. He also noted Estonia’s leadership in cyber defence, innovation, and support to Ukraine.

🗣 | NATO Secretary General:

Good morning President Karis, dear Alar,
It is a pleasure to welcome you here to Brussels, and good to see you again.
Since 2004, Estonia has been a valued member of NATO, making major contributions to our shared security.

You host the UK-led Forward Land Forces in Tapa, deterring aggression on NATO’s eastern flank.
Estonia also hosts NATO’s Baltic Air Policing at Ämari Air Base, as well as the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence in Tallinn, and a regional hub for the Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic ‘DIANA’.

You contribute to the Baltic Sentry activity, NATO Security Assistance and Training for Ukraine and NATO Mission in Iraq.

At our Summit in The Hague, Allies agreed that to keep NATO strong, we need more capabilities, and larger forces at high readiness. That requires sustained investment – which is why we agreed that all Allies will invest 5% of GDP in defence by 2035.

Estonia is leading the way. You are already close to this benchmark, and plan to go even further in the coming years.

And these significant increases in defence spending strengthen our deterrence and defence, and demonstrate your unwavering commitment to our Alliance.

Estonia is also one of NATO’s staunchest supporters of Ukraine.

Since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, Estonia has provided Ukraine with significant military assistance.

You have committed to supporting Ukraine annually with at least 0.25% so quarter of a percent of your GDP and this year you have further stepped up your assistance, including through NATO’s Comprehensive Assistance Package.

Our ongoing support for Ukraine continues to be crucial – to ensure they have what they need to defend today. And so that when there is an end to this terrible war, peace will be protected.

In July in Washington, President Trump and I announced a new NATO initiative to deliver urgent support to Ukraine.

And in just a few weeks, this mechanism has channelled 2 billion dollars’ worth of urgently needed aid to Ukraine – from ammunition to advanced air defence. From the US to Ukraine, paid for by Allies.

And more packages are coming, and I want to urge all Allies to contribute to this and other initiatives that provide vital support to Ukraine.

We are all working to bring an end to this terrible war. Including through ongoing discussions on the provision of security guarantees for Ukraine.

The foundation of Ukraine’s security is Ukraine’s own armed forces – which NATO is already actively supporting, including through our command in Wiesbaden. And to complement Ukraine’s forces, the US and numerous others are working to design security guarantees that will ensure that once there’s peace, Russia will never ever again attempt to violate Ukraine’s sovereignty.

We know and we agree that Russia remains the most significant and direct threat to Euro-Atlantic security.

So we must remain vigilant, invest more in defence, expand defence industrial production on both sides of the Atlantic, and continue to support Ukraine.

President Karis, dear Alar – thank you once again for Estonia’s strong commitment to NATO, to our shared security, and to our transatlantic bond.

Estonia can count on NATO and I know NATO can count on Estonia.

The floor is yours.

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
SUBSCRIBE to this channel https://bit.ly/NATOsubscribe
SUBSCRIBE to NATO News https://bit.ly/NATONewsSubscribe
SUBSCRIBE to NATO History https://bit.ly/NATOHistorySubscribe

Connect with NATO online:

Visit the Official NATO Homepage: https://bit.ly/NATOhomepage
Receive NATO updates via email: https://bit.ly/NATOemails
Find NATO on FACEBOOK: https://bit.ly/NATOfacebook
Follow @NATO on X/TWITTER: https://bit.ly/NATOtwitter
Follow NATO on Instagram: https://bit.ly/NATOinstagram
Find NATO on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/NATOlinkedin
Find NATO on Flickr: https://bit.ly/NATOflickr

#NATO #OTAN #estonia