NATO Secretary General Rutte says Trump-Putin summit is about ‘testing Putin’

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said Friday’s summit between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska will be an important test in ending the war in Ukraine.

“Next Friday will be important because it will be about testing Putin, how serious he is on bringing this terrible war to an end,” Rutte told ABC News’ “This Week” co-anchor Jonathan Karl.

“When it comes to full-scale negotiations, and let’s hope that Friday will be an important step in that process. … It will be about territory. It will be, of course, about security guarantees, but also about the absolute need to acknowledge that Ukraine decides on its own future, that Ukraine has to be a sovereign nation, deciding on its own geopolitical future — of course having no limitations to its own military troop levels. And for NATO, to have no limitations on our presence on the eastern flank,” Rutte added.

“The president wants to end this. He wants to end the terrible loss of life,” Rutte said.

The NATO chief also acknowledged the reality that Russia is in control of some of Ukraine’s prewar territory.

“The question will be how to go forward past a ceasefire, including what it means in terms of security guarantees for Ukraine,” he said.

He continued, “When it comes to this whole issue of territory, when it comes to acknowledging, for example, maybe in a future deal that Russia is controlling de facto, factually some of the territory of Ukraine, it has to be effectual recognition, and not a political de jure recognition.”

In recent days, Trump has suggested “some swapping of territories” as part of a potential peace deal. But Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has rejected ceding any Ukrainian territory, particularly the eastern Donbas region, to prompt a ceasefire, and urged that Kyiv must be present in the negotiations. Several European nations similarly say there should be no peace talks without Ukraine present.

While Rutte sung the president’s praises regarding this upcoming meeting, former Trump national security adviser John Bolton, who also appeared on “This Week,” was critical of Trump’s approach to dealing with Putin.

“I think Trump has made some mistakes already, number one in holding this meeting on American soil, legitimizing a pariah leader of the rogue state. Second, he’s allowed Putin to get first-mover advantage by putting his peace plan on the table first,” Bolton said.

Bolton added, “What Putin gets more than anything else is an opportunity, one on one, to try and get his magic working again with Trump, applying that KGB training. Whether intentionally or unintentionally, he pushed Trump further than Trump wanted to be pushed. And you saw the reaction. What Putin wants to get back, he’s not so worried about the sanctions, he wants the relationship back with Trump. We’ll see if he gets it.”

Here are more highlights from Rutte’s interview:

On whether there are risks of rewarding Russia with summit

Karl: My next guest, Trump’s former national security adviser John Bolton, says that this meeting comes in a very dangerous point for Ukraine, and he fears that negotiations are sliding in Russia’s direction. Is there a risk that something is agreed to here that rewards Russia for its invasion of Ukraine?

Rutte: No, I don’t think the risk is there. And all my respect for John, and please send him my best regards. But I would not agree on this point with him. We have seen President Trump putting incredible pressure on Russia. What happened last week, the extra 25% tariffs on India, because we know that India is one of the biggest buyers of oil from and, and other material from Russia. And this has had a huge impact potentially on the Indian economy, and this is forcing them to be much more clear with Moscow on what they expect Putin to do when it comes to this war in Ukraine. But also the fact that he opened the floodgates again when it comes to lethal weapons being delivered into Ukraine paid by the Europeans but delivered by the Americans. So this is all clear evidence that President Trump is absolutely adamant to bring this war to an end but also to keep maximum pressure on Putin.

Here are more highlights from Bolton’s interview:

On Trump and Putin’s relationship

Bolton: I think it’s gone up and down, and certainly it’s been in a down period. That’s what Putin wants to try and correct. I think that by already prenegotiating part of the Putin plan, Zelenskyy is going to be put in a position where he’s going to be presented with something that Trump may feel very comfortable with. And then you could be back closer to where we were in February during the famous debacle in the Oval Office with Zelenskyy. So it’s not inevitable, but I think this is a very risky meeting upcoming from the perspective not just of Ukraine, but the Western alliance.

On Trump’s strategy on Ukraine

Bolton: You know, ultimately, I don’t think you negotiate under the circumstances that are being presented to them. And I think we’ve gone through 3 1/2 years here where neither the United States nor NATO have had an effective strategy for Ukraine to win. We’ve spent a lot of time making sure Russia doesn’t lose. And I think the danger with Trump’s present position is, notwithstanding allowing the Patriots to be deployed to Ukraine, he has not made any kind of commitment on continued military assistance, weapons, ammunition and most critically, intelligence.

On Trump’s international record

Bolton: I don’t think what he has done materially changes the situations in any of those circumstances or several others he’s mentioned like Pakistan-India, where the Indians — not just the government, the entire country — were outraged that he tried to take credit for that. In Thailand-Cambodia, he simply threatened tariffs if they didn’t sign a deal. They’ve signed a deal. Nothing has changed. And the real kicker in Azerbaijan-Armenia was the Russians allowing Azerbaijan to take control of Nagorno-Karabakh in the past year. So I think what Trump has done is make it clear that he wants a Nobel Peace Prize more than anything else.

On Trump’s retribution

Bolton: Well, I think he’s already come after me and several others in withdrawing the protection that we had for, from the Iranians for the attack on Qassem Soleimani. So I think, and I said in the new forward to the paperback edition of my book, I think it is a retribution presidency.