MOSCOW, June 27. /TASS/. NATO’s future Secretary General Mark Rutte will not change the bloc’s policy on Ukraine, Russian Ambassador to Belgium Alexander Tokovinin told Rossiya-24 television.
"The policy will clearly remain the same, and given Washington’s decisive influence, it will be a policy of escalation. Rutte maintained the same stance when serving as Dutch prime minister," he noted.
When speaking about the NATO secretary general’s role, the envoy stressed that it was determined by the member states, with the United States having a major say.
"The secretary general is elected among those who are well aware of that and are ready to maintain close contact with Washington, while ensuring coordination with other members of the bloc," he went on to say. "The Dutch <...> are seen as appropriate candidates for this role. <...> This case was special particularly because the initial demand was for a secretary general from the so-called Old Europe <...>, specifically, a country that stood at the origins of the European Union. This is who Mark Rutte is," Tokovinin noted.
The diplomat also emphasized that although the secretary general had a personal role in building the alliance’s policy, it should not be overestimated. "I believe that American advisors working at the [NATO] headquarters may have more impact on the way the bloc operates," Tokovinin concluded.
At a North Atlantic Council meeting in Brussels, the envoys of 32 NATO countries approved Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, who recently lost a national election, as the bloc’s secretary general for the next five years. He will succeed Norway’s Jens Stoltenberg, who was the longest-serving chief in the history of NATO, holding the post for over a decade.