The NATO Secretary General called the dialogue initiated by Trump with Russia extremely important.

The dialogue that US President Donald Trump resumed with Russia in the winter of 2025 is extremely important for finding ways to resolve the situation in Ukraine. This was stated on May 13 by NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte at a press conference after the summit of the so-called "Bucharest Nine" (unification of Slovakia, Poland, Bulgaria, Hungary, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Romania and the Czech Republic).

"It was the American president who broke the deadlock in relations with President [Russian Federation Vladimir] Putin in February last year. And I think it was extremely important to start a dialogue with Russia [to understand] whether there is a way out of this conflict," he said.

Rutte stressed that he again "pays tribute" to the efforts made by Washington in this matter.

System Unit: Moscow is ready to discuss Eurasian security with the EU

This will be one of the key topics of the Minsk Conference on October 28-29.

On February 12, Rutte supported the idea of French President Emmanuel Macron to resume contacts with Russia. Then he also pointed to the role of the American side in breaking the deadlock with Moscow. The relevant process on May 12 also found support among the Presidents of Slovakia, Austria and the Czech Republic, Peter Pellegrini, Alexander van der Bellen and Peter Pavel, respectively.

On May 9, Putin named former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder as Russia's preferred European negotiator. This candidacy, however, was rejected in Germany. At the same time, the Berliner Zeitung (BZ) newspaper pointed out the need for Berlin to appoint its new negotiator for dialogue with Russia as soon as possible.