Original article (in Montenegrin) was published on 21/7/2025; Author: Nina Đuranović
An alleged statement by NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, which appeared on social networks, revealed the position and intentions of Western actors toward Ukraine.
In that Facebook post (archived), it was stated that Rutte said it was necessary to prevent Russian President Vladimir Putin from taking any more territory away from Americans, meaning Ukraine.
“NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte stated: ‘We must make it so that Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin can no longer take away from Americans even one kilometer of Ukrainian territory!
P.S. Now even Ukrainians know that this is no longer their country, because they gave it to Americans for pennies,’” reads the description of the post.
The post includes a video in English, with Russian subtitles, originating from the “NATO Public Forum 2025” event (archived), held on June 24 and 25 in The Hague.
The NATO Secretary General participated in the opening panel together with moderator Benedikt Franke, and the recording of that discussion is available on the official YouTube channel of the Alliance.
The moderator asked Rutte a question (archived) at minute 14:48 of the original video: “How close are we to a resolution of the Ukrainian conflict?”
Rutte responded that the most important thing at the moment is to ensure that “Ukraine has everything it needs to remain in the conflict and to be in the strongest possible position when the real negotiations begin” (around minute 17:18).
In the second part of the statement at minute 17:54 of the recording, which was also published on Facebook as a clip, the NATO Secretary General stated (archived):
“I hope that serious talks (on peace) will begin soon. And then we must make sure that whatever the long-term ceasefire or peace deal on Ukraine will be, that it is lasting, that it is durable, that Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin will never, ever again try to catch even one square kilometer — or, for Americans, one square mile — of Ukrainian territory.”
Thus, at no point in the interview did Rutte describe Ukraine as American territory, nor did he speak about American control over it.
Rutte mentioned the United States of America (USA) only in the context of stylistic adaptation of the unit of measurement, when he converted square kilometers into square miles, to make the message clearer to an American audience.
It is clear that his statement was manipulatively interpreted, for which reason the post is rated as manipulation of facts.
The “Manipulation of Facts” rating is given to a media report that uses known and accurate facts but interprets them in a deceptive manner. These reports generally employ accurate information to draw incorrect conclusions or claims, leading media consumers to draw conclusions that differ from the actual meaning of the presented facts.
