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Tag: NATO

Russian officials make ultimatums on NATO, Ukraine as Saudi Arabia peace talks begin

U.S. and Russian officials held peace talks in Saudi Arabia without any Ukrainian officials present on Tuesday.

Russia’s foreign ministry issued several ultimatums as the talks began early Tuesday morning. Russian officials noted that Ukrainian membership in NATO is unacceptable, and they said a simple refusal by NATO to allow Ukraine to join is not a sufficient protection. Instead, Russian officials said NATO must disavow promises of Ukrainian membership in NATO made during a 2008 summit in Bucharest.

The groups, led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his Russian counterpart, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, are seeking terms for a peace agreement in Ukraine as well as negotiating a potential meeting between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The two groups broke for a working lunch at roughly 2 p.m. local time.

PUTIN VIEWED AS ‘GREAT COMPETITOR’ BUT STILL A US ‘ADVERSARY’ AS UKRAINE NEGOTIATIONS LOOM, LEAVITT SAYS

Russian President Vladimir Putin, President Donald Trump, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (Sputnik/Alexei Danichev/Pool via REUTERS/Leah Millis/Alina Smutko)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said his country would never accept peace terms negotiated by the U.S. and Russia without Ukrainian involvement. Trump has vowed that Ukraine will be involved in the larger process.

Trump envoy Steve Witkoff emphasized on Sunday that the ongoing meeting in Riyadh is more about “trust building” than getting into the details of an actual peace agreement.

Zelenskyy urged Trump not to trust Putin in a phone call last week.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is meeting with Russian counterparts in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Tuesday. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, Pool)

“I said that [Putin] is a liar,” Zelenskyy said of the call. “And he said, ‘I think my feeling is that he’s ready for these negotiations.’ And I said to him, ‘No, he’s a liar. He doesn’t want any peace.’”

FREED AMERICAN HOSTAGE MARC FOGEL LANDS IN US AFTER YEARS IN RUSSIAN CAPTIVITY

The Ukrainian leader nevertheless said he believes Putin is a “little bit scared” of Trump.

Also excluded from Tuesday’s talks are any European representatives, a notable absence given the stern rebuke of European allies delivered by Vice President JD Vance at the Munich Security Conference last week.

The war in Ukraine continues to rage as fledgling peace talks take place in Saudi Arabia. (AP Photo/LIBKOS, File)

Some European allies are taking the cue, with U.K. Prime Minister Kier Starmer announcing that he is willing to put British troops on the ground in Ukraine to ensure its security as part of a peace deal.

“I do not say that lightly,” he wrote in the Daily Telegraph. “I feel very deeply the responsibility that comes with potentially putting British servicemen and women in harm’s way.”

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“But any role in helping to guarantee Ukraine’s security is helping to guarantee the security of our continent, and the security of this country,” he added.

Anders Hagstrom is a reporter with Fox News Digital covering national politics and major breaking news events. Send tips to [email protected], or on Twitter: @Hagstrom_Anders.

February 18, 2025
‘Make NATO great again’: Hegseth pushes European allies to step up defense efforts

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said that as the U.S. aims to “revive the warrior ethos,” European members of NATO also should follow suit and bolster defense efforts.

“NATO should pursue these goals as well,” Hegseth told NATO members in Brussels on Thursday. “NATO is a great alliance, the most successful defense alliance in history, but to endure for the future, our partners must do far more for Europe’s defense.”

“We must make NATO great again,” he said.

As of 2023, the U.S. spent 3.3% of its GDP on defense spending — totaling $880 billion, according to the nonpartisan Washington, D.C.-based Peterson Institute for International Economics. More than 50% of NATO funding comes from the U.S., while other allies, like the United Kingdom, France and Germany, have contributed between 4% and 8% to NATO funding in recent years.

Hegseth urged European allies to bolster defense spending from 2% to 5% of gross domestic product, as President Donald Trump has long advocated.

NATO comprises more than 30 countries and was originally formed in 1949 to halt the spread of the Soviet Union.

Hegseth pointed to former President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who advocated for a strong relationship with European allies. But he noted that eventually Eisenhower felt that the U.S. was bearing the burden of deploying U.S. troops to Europe in 1959, according to the State Department’s Office of the Historian. Eisenhower reportedly told two of his generals that the Europeans were “making a sucker out of Uncle Sam.”

Hegseth said that he and Trump share sentiments similar to Eisenhower’s.

PUTIN VIEWED AS ‘GREAT COMPETITOR’ BUT STILL A US ‘ADVERSARY’ AS UKRAINE NEGOTIATIONS LOOM, LEAVITT SAYS

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said that as the U.S. aims to “revive the warrior ethos,” European members of NATO should follow suit and bolster defense efforts. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

“This administration believes in alliances, deeply believes in alliances, but make no mistake, President Trump will not allow anyone to turn Uncle Sam into Uncle Sucker,” Hegseth said.

“We can talk all we want about values,” Hegseth said. “Values are important, but you can’t shoot values, you can’t shoot flags, and you can’t shoot strong speeches. There is no replacement for hard power. As much as we may not want to like the world we live in, in some cases, there’s nothing like hard power.”

Hegseth’s comments come as the Trump administration navigates negotiations with Russia and Ukraine to end the conflict between the two countries. On Wednesday, Trump called both Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent traveled to Kyiv.

OBAMA OFFICIALS, TRUMP CRITICS TARGET HEGSETH’S ‘CONCESSIONS’ AS ‘BIGGEST GIFT’ TO RUSSIA

On February 12, 2025, President Donald Trump called both Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, pictured here. (Bonnie Cash/Getty Images)

Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio are slated to meet with Zelenskyy Friday at the Munich Security Conference.

Meanwhile, the Trump administration has come under scrutiny for the negotiations, fielding criticism that Ukraine is being pressured to give in to concessions after Hegseth said on Wednesday that it isn’t realistic for Ukraine to regain its pre-war borders with Russia.

“Putin is gonna pocket this and ask for more,” Brett Bruen, director of global engagement under former President Barack Obama, told Fox News Digital.

Michael McFaul, ambassador to Russia under the Obama administration, also shared concerns in a social media post on X on Wednesday, claiming that Trump was delivering Russia a “gift.”

But Hegseth said he rejected similar accusations.

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“Any suggestion that President Trump is doing anything other than negotiating from a position of strength is, on its face, ahistorical and false,” Hegseth said Thursday.

Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, and Trump vowed on the campaign trail in 2024 that he would work to end the conflict if elected again.

Fox News’ Emma Colton and Morgan Phillips contributed to this report.

Diana Stancy is a politics reporter with Fox News Digital covering the White House.

February 13, 2025
Zelenskyy wants nukes or NATO; Trump special envoy says ‘slim and none’ chance

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy this week said that if the U.S. cannot guarantee a quick path toward NATO membership, then there are alternative security options Kyiv would accept: nuclear weapons.

But don’t think the United States is eager to agree to those terms.

“The chance of them getting their nuclear weapons back is somewhere between slim and none,” retired Lt. General Keith Kellogg, special envoy to Ukraine and Russia, told Fox News Digital. “Let’s be honest about it, we both know that’s not going to happen.”

In 1994, following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Ukraine agreed to give Russia its nuclear arms in exchange for reassurances from Russia, the U.S. and the U.K. that its sovereignty and independence would be respected – a treaty Moscow has violated with its repeated invasions – and in an interview on Tuesday, Zelenskyy argued that Ukraine should be given its arms “back” if a timely NATO membership is off the table.

TRUMP UNIQUELY PLACED TO ‘WHISPER’ IN ERDOGAN’S EAR OVER TURKISH REGIONAL AMBITIONS: GREEK DEFENSE MINISTER

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, second left, says Kyiv should be given NATO membership or nukes to defend against Russia. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP)

But Kellogg, the man tasked by President Donald Trump to help bring an end to the three-year war, said rearming Ukraine with nuclear weapons is a non-starter.

“Remember, the president said we’re a government of common sense,” he said. “When somebody says something like that, look at the outcome or the potential. That’s using your common sense.”

Zelenskyy on Tuesday confirmed his willingness to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin face-to-face if that is the best option for bringing an end to the war, though the Kremlin chief has not agreed to any in-person meeting with the Ukrainian leader.

Trump on Sunday said that initial talks had begun with both Ukraine and Russia, and Kellogg this week confirmed that Kyiv and Moscow will need to make concessions if there is going to be a peace deal.

TRUMP’S ‘RARE’ PRICE FOR US MILITARY AID TO UKRAINE CALLED ‘FAIR’ BY ZELENSKYY

The administration has been tight-lipped on what sort of compromises will need to be made, particularly when it comes to the biggest hot-button issue for both Zelenskyy and Putin: Ukrainian NATO membership.

Kellogg wouldn’t comment on where Trump lands when it comes to backing either Ukraine with a membership in the security alliance or Russia in denying its southern neighbor access to the top coalition.

Retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg (Drew Angerer/Getty Images/File)

“That’s one of the reasons I’m going next week to Europe, to actually see them face-to-face,” he said. “I can bring that back to the president and say, ‘OK, Mr. President, this is their concern. This is what the issues are.’”

Kellogg is set to travel to the Munich Security Conference, which runs Feb. 14-16, where he said he will meet with world leaders to discuss Russia’s war in Ukraine and get a better idea of where nations like the U.K., Germany and Denmark, along with other top providers of military aid to Ukraine, stand on negotiations to end the war.

ZELENSKYY WARNS PEACE TALKS WITHOUT UKRAINE ‘DANGEROUS’ AFTER TRUMP CLAIMS MEETINGS WITH RUSSIA ‘GOING WELL’

“As you develop the plans to end this carnage, you have to make sure that you’ve got the feel of everybody in play,” Kellogg said. “Once we get to have these face-to-face discussions, then you can really kind of work … on concessions.”

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte last month urged member nations to increase their support for Ukraine, an issue he said is vastly important when it comes to bolstering NATO deterrence in the face of the Russia, China, North Korea, Iran bloc.

Then-Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump meets Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at Trump Tower in New York on Sept. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

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“If we get a bad deal, it would only mean that we will see the president of Russia high-fiving with the leaders of North Korea, Iran and China, and we cannot accept that,” Rutte said. “That will be geopolitically a big, a big mistake.”

Rutte has urged NATO nations to ramp up defense spending and warned that if Russia comes out on top in this war, it will cost NATO allies “trillions” not “billions.”

Kellogg will also press NATO allies to increase defense spending and, as directed by Trump, to start shouldering the burden of the war in Ukraine.

February 6, 2025
Thomas Massie and Mike Lee advocate for US to dump NATO

Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Sen. Mike Lee are advocating for the U.S. to withdraw from the North Atlantic Treaty Organiation (NATO).

“If you could snap your fingers and get us out of NATO today, would you?” Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, asked in a post on X.

“Yes,” Massie replied.

MASSIE AND OTHER REPUBLICANS PUSH ‘NATIONAL CONSTITUTIONAL CARRY ACT’ TO PROTECT AMERICANS’ GUN RIGHTS

Left: Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, arrives for the Senate Republicans leadership election in the Capitol on Wednesday, November 13, 2024; Center: NATO flag is seen during official celebration of the 25th anniversary of Poland’s accession to the structures of NATO in Krakow, Poland on March 12, 2024; Right: Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., attends the inauguration of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 20, 2025 in Washington, D.C. (Left: Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images; Center: Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto via Getty Images; Right: Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

The House lawmaker has previously called the alliance — which includes the U.S. and scads of other nations — a “Cold War relic.”

“I would withdraw us from NATO,” Massie said, the Washington Post reported in 2022. “It’s a Cold War relic. Our involvement should have ceased when the [Berlin] wall fell and the Soviet Union collapsed.”

Lee has been critical of the NATO alliance, describing it as a “great deal for Europe,” but a “raw deal for America.”

MIKE LEE FLOATS ALLOWING PRIVATE PARTIES TO TARGET DRUG CARTELS FOR PROFIT

Sen Mike Lee, R-Utah, speaks during a campaign rally for U.S. Republican presidential nominee, former President Donald Trump at Findlay Toyota Center on Oct. 13, 2024 in Prescott Valley, Ariz. (Rebecca Noble/Getty Images)

The senator has called for the U.S. to consider departing NATO, and has in some cases explicitly endorsed the prospect of a U.S. withdrawal.

“NATO members must pay up now,” Lee asserted in a tweet. “If they don’t—and maybe even if they do—the U.S. should seriously consider leaving NATO,” he continued. “We won the Cold War,” the senator noted. “A long time ago, in fact.”

“Amen!” Lee exclaimed in a tweet when responding to someone who had declared, “Let’s leave NATO.”

“Let’s go!” the lawmaker wrote in response to two separate posts suggesting that President Donald Trump should withdraw the U.S. from NATO.

MIKE LEE CONTINUES CALLING FOR ABOLITION OF TSA

Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., is seen outside the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024 (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

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Part of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2024, which was signed by President Joe Biden in late 2023, placed into U.S. law language that declares, “The President shall not suspend, terminate, denounce, or withdraw the United States from the North Atlantic Treaty, done at Washington, DC, April 4, 1949, except by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, provided that two-thirds of the Senators present concur, or pursuant to an Act of Congress.”

Alex Nitzberg is a writer for Fox News Digital.

January 29, 2025