Russia has no authority to dictate whether Western troops are deployed to Ukraine, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said Thursday, insisting Kyiv’s sovereignty must be upheld.
"Why are we interested in what Russia thinks about troops in Ukraine? It is a sovereign nation. It’s not for them to decide," Rutte said at the IISS Prague Defence Summit.
"Ukraine is a sovereign nation. If Ukraine wants to have security guarantee forces in Ukraine to support a peace deal, it's up to them. Nobody else can decide about it. And I think we really have to stop making (Russian President Vladimir) Putin too powerful," he added.
'Threat won't end with war'
Rutte described Russia's ongoing war on Ukraine as the "most obvious example" of current security threats but warned that the challenge would not end with the conflict.
