NATO is moving towards a “simple compromise” over the disagreement between the allies regarding Greenland, a senior official of the alliance said on Sunday, reports Anadolu.
Lieutenant General Remigijus Baltrenas, director general of NATO’s International Military Staff, told Lithuanian public broadcaster LRT that consultations were ongoing within the alliance and were helping to build “greater understanding and pragmatism”.
“This is, above all, a matter of bilateral relations between the two states,” Baltrenas said, adding that the discussions led by NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and the ambassadors of the member states are progressing “in a positive direction.”
He said that any possible solution should benefit “the alliance as a whole, Europe and the United States itself.”
Baltrenas emphasized that NATO already has a significant presence in the Arctic, including regular military exercises involving US and Canadian forces within NORAD, some of which took place in Greenland.
“Current political tensions have not had an impact on these exercises, nor on other routine exercises,” he said, noting that Denmark recently raised the possibility of a NATO mission in Greenland.
He said the Arctic has become increasingly strategically important because of Russian and Chinese interests in the Northern Sea Route, and that Sweden and Finland, NATO’s newest members, are now fully integrated into the alliance’s regional defense plans.
On Ukraine, Baltrenas said there is still no final agreement on post-war security guarantees after recent meetings of the so-called “coalition of the willing”.
“What is clear is that the Ukrainian armed forces themselves are the primary guarantor of security,” he said.
Following the growing debate in Europe about strategic autonomy, Baltrenas emphasized that NATO should remain the basis of continental defense, while the European Union should focus on economic and political tools.
Baltrenas also said defense spending had risen sharply across the alliance, recalling a decision at the Hague summit to target budgets of up to five percent of GDP.
“All members have now exceeded the minimum of two percent,” he said, noting that Lithuania and other Baltic states are already above five percent.
