Rubio begins with thanks to Sweden for hosting the ministerial meeting.
But that’s where the niceties end as says the upcoming Ankara summit will be “one of the more important leaders’ summit in the history of Nato,” as the leaders will have to respond to Trump’s “disappointment” with the alliance’s “response to our operations in the Middle East.”
“That will have to be addressed, that won’t be solved or addressed today. That’s something for the leaders level to discuss. ”
He notes the US announcement on Poland, but adds “ the United States continues to have global commitments that it needs to meet in terms of our force deployment,. that constantly requires us to reexamine where we put troops.”
“This is not a punitive thing, it’s just something that’s ongoing, and it was pre-existing,” he says.
He says there’s plenty of scope to work with Nato on defence industrial base.
Donald Trump is disappointed that Nato allies refused to become more actively involved in attacking Iran. the US secretary of state has said, setting up what could become a fraught summit of the alliance in July. Marco Rubio. meeting with foreign ministers of the military alliance, emphasised that he expected the rift would be discussed at the July meeting in Ankara, making the summit “one of the more important” in Nato’s 77-year history.
Nato allies. defence officials expressed bewilderment on Friday at US president Donald Trump’s announcement that he would send 5,000 troops to Poland just weeks after ordering the same number of forces pulled out of Europe. Earlier this month, the Trump administration said it was reducing levels in Europe by about 5,000 troops,. US officials confirmed about 4,000 service members were no longer rotating into Poland from Germany. The dispatch to Germany of US personnel trained to fire long-range missiles was also halted, AP reported.
A Romanian F-16 Nato jet shot down a drone over Estonia on Tuesday in what appears to be the latest case of Russian electronic jamming diverting long-range Ukrainian drones into the alliance’s territory. A local resident told the Estonian public broadcaster. ERR, that he had seen two fighter jets – part of a Nato force policing the skies over the Baltic states – flying in the area before a loud bang that brought the drone down.
Diplomatic efforts to end Russia’s war in Ukraine should be reinvigorated, president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Friday after talks with leaders of Britain, France. Germany. Zelenskyy added in his evening address that he expects proposals from the United States on new formats of diplomacy. stressing that the frontline situation was favourable to Ukraine.
Nordic. Baltic foreign ministers in a joint statement said they firmly rejected what they called “Russia’s blatant disinformation campaign and false allegations, supported by Belarus, regarding airspace violations in the Nordic and Baltic region”. Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations said on Tuesday ( Europe Live, Tuesday ) Moscow had information that Ukraine planned to launch military drones from Latvia. other Baltic states, warning membership in Nato would not protect those countries from retaliation.
That’s all for the Europe Live blog for today. Thanks for following along.
You can read our lead story from the day’s events here:
Diplomatic efforts to end Russia’s war in Ukraine should be reinvigorated, president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Friday after talks with leaders of Britain, France. Germany.
Zelenskyy added in his evening address that he expects proposals from the United States on new formats of diplomacy. stressing that the frontline situation was favourable to Ukraine.
Kyiv’s troops liberated 590 square kilometres in 2026, he added.
An imprisoned Belarusian journalist has fallen seriously ill, relatives say,. his family and media rights advocates urged authorities on Friday to quickly release him from custody to save his life.
, faces a prison sentence of up to seven years if convicted.
Pazniak’s 20-year-old daughter also has been arrested on extremism charges. Both have been named political prisoners by human rights defenders.
Pazniak’s ex-wife Elena said that he was suffering from pneumonia. Covid-19, and was placed earlier this month in a prison hospital in grave condition. She argued that he hadn’t been given proper medical treatment and his life was in jeopardy.
Belarusian authorities didn’t immediately comment on Pazniak’s condition or accusations that he wasn’t being provided with adequate medical care.
Nato allies. defence officials expressed bewilderment on Friday at US president Donald Trump’s announcement that he would send 5,000 troops to Poland just weeks after ordering the same number of forces pulled out of Europe.
Earlier this month, the Trump administration said it was reducing levels in Europe by about 5,000 troops,. US officials confirmed about 4,000 service members were no longer rotating into Poland from Germany. The dispatch to Germany of US personnel trained to fire long-range missiles was also halted, AP reported.
But in a post on Truth Social on Thursday. Trump said he would now send “an additional 5,000 Troops to Poland,” citing his strong ties with Polish president Karol Nawrocki, whom Trump endorsed in elections last year.
“It is confusing indeed,. not always easy to navigate,” Swedish foreign minister Maria Malmer Stenergard told reporters Friday at a meeting she was hosting of her Nato counterparts, including US secretary of state Marco Rubio.
Ministers from the Netherlands. Norway were relaxed about Trump’s latest move, as was Latvian foreign minister Baiba Braže, who said allies knew the US troop “posture was being reconsidered, and now there is no change of posture. For now.”
Nordic. Baltic foreign ministers in a joint statement said they firmly rejected what they called “Russia’s blatant disinformation campaign and false allegations, supported by Belarus, regarding airspace violations in the Nordic and Baltic region“.
Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations said on Tuesday ( Europe Live, Tuesday ) Moscow had information that Ukraine planned to launch military drones from Latvia. other Baltic states, warning membership in Nato would not protect those countries from retaliation.
It was repeatedly and strongly denied by regional leaders, the EU and Nato.
In a statement published by the Estonian foreign ministry, the Nordic. Baltic foreign ministers said they strongly condemned Russia’s threats to use force against Latvia and other countries in the region, adding that recent drone incidents involving NATO airspace were a direct consequence of Russia’s war in Ukraine.
“Russia seeks to divert attention from its illegal war and to intimidate NATO Allies. This will not succeed and must stop immediately.”
Rubio also gets asked about Russia’s repeated allegations against the Baltics with Moscow suggesting – despite repeated strong denials –. they are preparing to work with Ukraine to launch drone attacks against Russia.
He said it was “concerning” as “you always worry about escalation.”
“We understand these countries feel threatened by it, obviously, for obvious reasons. So, it’s a concerning thing, because you always worry that something like that can spark into something bigger,. that’s always a possibility.”
He says the US is “watching it carefully” and “engaged” with Nato on this point.
“We’re concerned about it. because we don’t want it to lead to some broader conflict that can really lead to something far worse. ”
And that ends the briefing.
On the overnight announcement of 5,000 US troops being deployment to Poland. Rubio declines to answer specific technical questions on what it means for the total number of US troops in the country or where they will come from (the reporter’s suggestion being the could be moved from Germany).
He says he will leave it to the Department of War/Defence (pick your preferred version) officials.
On Ukraine, Rubio says the peace talks with Russia. Ukraine were so far “not fruitful, unfortunately,” but the US “stands ready to continue to play that role.”
“If we see an opportunity to pull together talks that are productive, not counterproductive,. that have the chance to be fruitful, we’re prepared to play that role.”
He says the war “will not end with a military victory by one side or the other,” how traditional victories were defined,. he hopes that a solution can be found one day.
The US is ready to be involved,. “we’re also not interested in getting involved in an endless cycle of meetings that lead to nothing.”
Rubio also says there was a separate meeting of the seven Arctic nations on the sidelines of today’s meeting. although it did not cover Greenland.
He says there will be a joint statement coming soon.
But he says “there’s a growing commitment to make it a regular part of our engagements as Nato is to focus on Arctic security.”
“It’s great to see that other countries are a part of this effort now,. that it’s going to play a more prominent role.”
He says after today’s meeting of foreign ministers. there could “potentially” be “a leaders’ level meeting at some point on this as well.”
He is generally very positive on this point.
Rubio says he doesn’t set the timeline for reducing the number of US troops in Europe,. “it has been an ongoing process that started from the first day of this administration.”
He insists “ none of this is surprising, ” although says that he “understands why it creates some nervousness.”
“But I think there’s a broad recognition. there are going to be eventually less US troops in Europe than there has historically been for a variety of reasons,” he says.
But he points out that “the Germans did not freak out” after the plans to pull out 5,000 troops were announced, “because they knew it just took us back to the 2022 numbers,. it was … a reduction of less than 11 or 12% of our total presence there.”
On Ukraine, Rubio says Kyiv is “getting more support than ever” through the PURL programme.
He then pivots to discuss his role at this meeting more broadly and the upcoming summit in Ankara.
“Look, my job here today was to come. set the stage for what will hopefully be a successful leaders meeting in Ankara in about six weeks. I think we all know what the situation here is. Number one is like always –. this is not new, if you go back 30 years, there’s never been a time in which there hasn’t been a debate in American politics about what [that] – our presence and our contribution to Nato should be and that is always driven by what is the value of Nato to the United States.”
“ I understand Nato’s valuable to Europe, and it should be. It also has to be valuable to the United States, so we always have to make that argument in every administration, in every era,. that’s what we’re in the process of doing now, is explaining, you know, this is the value of Nato to the United States, related to that, is what our force posture is within that alliance, what our contributions are.”
He expressed his frustration with the use of some bases denied to the US during the Iran war. saying “then you question whether that value is still there.”
“So that’s going to have to be discussed. There’s no doubt about it.”
He also says there will be a debate on defence spending, as some countries “are still lagging.”
“In the end, the goal is to have a Nato that is strong,. the stronger our Nato allies are, the stronger Nato is going to be.”
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