“Dutch PM Rutte Appointed as New NATO Chief”

mproved for clarity and readability. Here is the revised version:

“The North Atlantic Council has decided to appoint Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte as the next Secretary General of NATO, succeeding Jens Stoltenberg,” the alliance said in a statement, adding that Rutte would take over on October 1. Rutte’s appointment became a formality after his only rival for the post, Romanian President Klaus Iohannis, announced last week that he had quit the race, having failed to gain traction.

Jens Stoltenberg, the current NATO Secretary General, praised his successor Mark Rutte on Wednesday as a “true transatlanticist, strong leader, and consensus-builder.” Rutte is a fierce critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin and a staunch ally of Ukraine, having honed his skills as a political dealmaker during nearly 14 years as Dutch prime minister.

At 57, Rutte has been one of the driving forces behind Europe’s military support for Ukraine since Russia’s 2022 invasion. He believes that a battlefield defeat for Moscow is crucial for securing peace in Europe. His view is heavily influenced by the downing of an airliner over Ukraine in 2014, which the Netherlands blames on Russia and in which 196 of the 298 victims were Dutch.

Rutte emphasizes that NATO must be powerful to counter Moscow, and he warns other European Union leaders against being naive about Putin’s Russia. “He won’t stop at Ukraine if we don’t stop him now. This war is bigger than Ukraine itself. It’s about upholding the international rule of law,” Rutte told the United Nations in September 2022, seven months after Russia’s full-scale invasion.