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Europe Today: Rutte tells Russia to stop nuclear threats at Euronews defence summit
NATO chief Mark Rutte tells Russia to stop its nuclear threats, speaking at the Euronews Defence Summit as Moscow threatens to use its nuclear arsenal. Rutte also said there's no imminent threat to NATO territory, while Belgian defence chief Theo Francken argued Russia is Belgium's biggest threat.
READ MORE : http://www.euronews.com/2026/10/01/europe-today-rutte-tells-russia-to-stop-nuclear-threats-at-euronews-defence-summit
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NATO chief Mark Rutte tells Russia to stop its nuclear threats, speaking at the Euronews Defence Summit as Moscow threatens to use its nuclear arsenal. Rutte also said there's no imminent threat to NATO territory, while Belgian defence chief Theo Francken argued Russia is Belgium's biggest threat.
READ MORE : http://www.euronews.com/2026/10/01/europe-today-rutte-tells-russia-to-stop-nuclear-threats-at-euronews-defence-summit
Subscribe to our channel. Euronews is available on Dailymotion in 12 languages
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00:14Good morning, it's Thursday, October 1st, you're watching Euronews, and this is Europe Today.
00:22Coming up, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte called on Russia to stop issuing nuclear threats.
00:28This comes after Moscow reportedly sent a letter to the Western Alliance that it is prepared
00:33to deploy its nuclear arsenal if its territory comes under attack, which is spoke at the Euronews
00:40Defense and Space Summit in Brussels.
00:42The United States has urged European countries to release more emergency oil reserves to curb
00:49soaring energy prices.
00:50Meanwhile, the Trump administration is considering a 90-day diesel export ban in an effort to
00:56contain domestic fuel prices ahead of November's midterm elections.
01:01And the Spanish government has ordered the military to investigate claims its soldiers maltreated
01:07migrants in Ceuta.
01:09This was Madrid's response to a report by Amnesty International.
01:14The organization had gathered dozens of testimonies blaming soldiers for beatings, harassment,
01:20humiliations or theft of money.
01:22Welcome to the program.
01:24I'm Stefan Grober.
01:26Europe is facing its most serious security challenge in decades.
01:30From Russia's war in Ukraine to drones, sabotage and hybrid attacks increasingly testing NATO's
01:37eastern flank.
01:38Against that backdrop, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte came to the Euronews Defense and Space
01:43Summit in Brussels with a clear message.
01:46NATO is ready, united and prepared to defend every inch of allied territory.
01:52But as Moscow issues fresh nuclear warnings and pressure grows on Europe to do more for its
01:58own defense, the questions are becoming harder to ignore.
02:02How far could this confrontation go?
02:05And how much more must Europe do to protect itself?
02:08At our defense summit, Mark Rutte addressed those questions and talked about that strange
02:14letter that Moscow sent NATO.
02:16So, from Russia with love.
02:19What was exactly in the Russian letter, I think it's up to them to disclose.
02:23Putin knows that he can never win from NATO.
02:26So I don't take this that serious.
02:28But of course, we had to reply and make clear to him that NATO is a defensive alliance, as I
02:33said, and stop the war in Ukraine, and stop the nuclear threats, because it's not helpful.
02:38And NATO is so much stronger than Russia is, so there's no way they can ever beat us.
02:42There's a lot of frenzy around the situation in the Baltics, and a security scenario that
02:46has or seems to have deteriorated over the past three weeks.
02:50What are the scenarios you're preparing for?
02:5243,000 Russians killed or seriously wounded a month now in Ukraine.
02:57Ukraine holding the front line, doing much better than only a half year or a year ago,
03:01striking deep inside Russia.
03:05Allies supporting Ukraine in terms of weapons delivery, etc.
03:08So this is the picture.
03:10So Putin is not winning this.
03:12So let's assume that he is a bit worried and a bit rattled.
03:16And I think the best way to deal with this is to have a little bit of a calm here.
03:22What Putin tries to do, don't forget, by these letters and these hybrids, gray zone activities,
03:30is he tries to divide us and lose the focus on Ukraine.
03:34We will not.
03:35So every hybrid, whatever happens in Europe, will be met with more support for Ukraine,
03:41not less support for Ukraine.
03:42That's the message.
03:43Should we just take away from this conversation that regardless of the letters,
03:48the trip of a CIA, top officer or not, nothing has changed.
03:52And even if Russia was planning to do something, Europe prepared for it,
03:56and this is NATO territory, will be protected.
03:58There is no imminent threat to NATO territory.
04:02If there is a built up, we will see it and we will deal with it.
04:05If anything happens otherwise, we will also deal with it because we have prepared and trained for this.
04:10And we have to be clear out.
04:11But Russia is not doing well in Ukraine.
04:14And this is all about that.
04:16And every minute we spend on this is exactly what Putin loves us to do, being rattled and talking about,
04:23oh, what's happening here, what's happening there.
04:25Calm.
04:25We are stronger.
04:27Carry on.
04:27Keep on investing.
04:29And most of us, most of all, make sure that Ukraine has what it needs to stay in the fight.
04:33How much of a problem is the war in Iran when it comes to the situation in Ukraine?
04:37Yeah, but let's also assess, and here we might always, not all of us agree, that it was only the
04:42United States which was capable of taking out the nuclear capability of Iran,
04:47which was a threat potentially soon, not only for Israel in the Middle East, but also for us here.
04:52You really believe that?
04:53In Brussels.
04:53You absolutely believe that, yes.
04:55So the American president taking out that threat, degrading that capability is crucial.
05:00And, of course, everywhere also has its downsides.
05:03That's clear.
05:04But I'm looking at the upsides here.
05:06And, by the way, with all the extra investments European countries are now making in their defense,
05:12this 3.5% leading to the 5% overall defense spending,
05:15this will lead to a situation where in the future there's stronger Europe and a stronger NATO,
05:20where the Europeans will be able to take care of their backyard themselves.
05:23It should be us doing this, not the Americans.
05:25But do you worry about the ramifications and the energy market?
05:28I mean, there are always downsides.
05:29There are always downsides when war breaks out.
05:31That's clear.
05:32But, hey, let's face it.
05:34Europe was not able to take out the nuclear capability of Iran.
05:36We couldn't.
05:37We didn't have the capabilities.
05:38In 10 years we can and we should.
05:40It should not be the Americans doing it.
05:41It should us be doing it.
05:42It should also us be taking care of the Houthis in the Red Sea and not the Americans.
05:47But, hey, of course there are always ramifications,
05:50but the ramifications start from a premise that it is good that the Americans did this.
05:54And I'm one believing that it was absolutely essential for the Americans to take on Iran.
05:59And do you believe the vast majority of the alliance agrees with your assessment?
06:03No, I don't think so, but that doesn't care.
06:05I don't care.
06:06You asked me on my opinion.
06:07Let's be honest.
06:08The war is not popular in Europe.
06:10I take all those comments very seriously.
06:11But what I'm telling you is that the nuclear capability of Iran, in my assessment, is a
06:16direct threat, not only to the Middle East, but also to Europe, that it was only the United
06:20States which was able to degrade it.
06:22Yes, when you have a war like this, that will have also negative consequences, but you have
06:26to take them into account.
06:28How is the atmosphere in the alliance at this point?
06:31It's great.
06:32It's the best it has ever been because you have now a Europe which is taking responsibility
06:37for its own defense.
06:38President Trump loves NATO.
06:39He only hated one element, which was the fact that we were not spending enough.
06:44And, Secretary General, just a final question.
06:47What do you think NATO 3.0 means?
06:50The problem was that NATO was not sustainable.
06:53It is not sustainable that you have a country, the United States, being overly responsible for
06:58the defense of 600 million Europeans.
07:00The problem was there was a total lack of equality in terms of spending.
07:07That's now being redressed, not only because Trump wants this, but also because we have
07:11to spend much more in Europe to be able to defend ourselves against the Russians.
07:18NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte there, speaking to our own Maria Taddeo.
07:23Now I'm joined in the studio by our NATO correspondent, Shona Murray.
07:28Good morning, Shona.
07:29Well, that was quite a lineup at the Euronews Defense Summit.
07:33You were heavily involved with interviews and roundtables.
07:37Tell us about the atmosphere in the room.
07:40What were your biggest impressions?
07:42Well, I mean, it was heavily subscribed because defense is really the key issue in Europe at
07:47the moment.
07:47So we had, for example, the EU Commissioner for Defense, the EU Commissioner for Technology.
07:51We had Sean Clancy, who's the chair of the EU Military Committee.
07:56And the engagement was really important because we had, obviously, issues around hybrid threat,
08:02threat of Moscow, and also issues around the scarcity of interceptors, because we know that
08:08that is a real problem across not just NATO, but across the world as well.
08:11So those issues were very much on the agenda.
08:14And I think it was very interesting to hear from Mark Rutter there saying that there's
08:17no immediate threat to NATO territory.
08:19But I suppose that he would also make the point that that's because NATO has ramped up
08:23its defenses.
08:24At the same time, ask the Baltics what their view is, because we're seeing on a weekly basis
08:30drones with often military payloads coming into Polish, Lithuanian, Finnish territory often
08:37have to be shot down, scrambled.
08:38We've seen arson, sabotage attacks.
08:40So there is a sort of a disconnection there, it seems, a little bit.
08:45Right.
08:46There were a lot of top speakers.
08:48You mentioned some of them.
08:50I agree.
08:51I think one of them stood out, and that was the Defense Minister of Belgium, Theo Franken.
08:57Why?
08:57Because of his bluntness, especially when he was asked about what is Belgium's biggest threat
09:04right now.
09:05Let's take a listen to what he said.
09:07Russia, air attack, air attack, air attack.
09:11So this is the biggest threat.
09:13So we need air defense, air defense, air defense.
09:17So yes, we need really air defense.
09:20We need to scale up our air defenses.
09:22We need to have more stocks, more production, scale up production, industrial base, and large
09:28industrial base.
09:29Everything has to go faster.
09:31And then again, yeah, hybrid threat, of course.
09:33There will be more hybrid threat actions in the next coming months.
09:37It will be a dark winter for Europe.
09:39Let's talk about the hybrid threats.
09:41Rewind 12 months ago, Belgium was seemingly inundated with drones.
09:46There were some unmanned aerial vehicles seen spotted flying near military assets.
09:51Their airports were ground to a halt.
09:53But it's my understanding that the Belgian Federal Prosecutor's Office is still determining
09:57roughly where 40 of these drones come from.
10:00What conclusion do you draw from this incident?
10:02Who is to blame here?
10:04Well, that is the definition of hybrid warfare.
10:07It's very difficult to find the actor when you don't find the instrument, the drone, or
10:12the pilot who is doing this.
10:14It's really difficult to have the proof.
10:16They're very, very smart.
10:17Hybrid warfare is not something that Russia is starting since two or three years.
10:21They're doing this for 50 years.
10:24This is something that Putin was really very good at.
10:29So, yeah, this is something that they have a lot of expertise in hybrid warfare.
10:33Absolutely.
10:33So just speaking on drones once again, in a wide-ranging interview with the Flemish
10:37broadcaster, VRT, Robert Brovdi, who heads up Ukraine's drone defense department, he told
10:44Belgium to take off its, quote, rose-tinted glasses.
10:47And that Belgium, because it hosts NATO, the EU institutions, and Euroclear, which is the
10:53financial institution that holds a big chunk of Russia's immobilized assets, this is what
10:59makes Belgium vulnerable.
11:01Do you think that you're doing enough to protect the country from these incursions?
11:04Do you share his assessment?
11:06So, yes, we were the first, the worst pupil of NATO class.
11:09Now Belgium is back again, but it takes time.
11:12So I need time.
11:13I'm working 24-7, like everybody, every defense minister for the moment.
11:19But, yeah, I think that's, it's going in the right direction.
11:22Have we all the, have we already all the capabilities that we, that I want to have?
11:28No, it takes time.
11:29Also, industry cannot follow.
11:31When I'm buying Patriots, I have to wait 10 years to get them.
11:34So it is, we're in a very difficult position at this moment.
11:41Europe has been very good in investing in soft power, in social security, and it's beautiful
11:47to have a pension system, to have social welfare systems.
11:50When somebody gets sick, when somebody's lost his job, we have everything.
11:55But when there's war or when there's hybrid threats, we don't, we have, we have anything.
12:01So, yeah, we were in a really difficult position.
12:04And Belgium was a really bad pupil in the past, but trying to step up, we have a stable
12:08government and trying to do what, what we need to do, yeah.
12:14Well, Belgium trying to do what it needs to do.
12:18That was the Belgian defense minister, Theo Franken.
12:21Another speaker who I thought was very impressive was Bulgaria's prime minister, Ruman Radev.
12:27Let's listen to what he said.
12:30Bulgaria is a strong, strong participant in strengthening the deterrence and defense on
12:37the eastern flank.
12:38Each member state on the eastern flank must do this, and not only on the eastern flank.
12:43Now we have seven nations in the multinational battalion settled in Bulgaria.
12:48You mentioned hybrid warfare with drones.
12:51It is extremely difficult to counter these drones.
12:56Why?
12:56It is extremely difficult to detect them.
12:58They fly low.
13:00They use non-metal materials.
13:02It is extremely difficult to detect on the radars.
13:06So, if you apply anti-drone systems, they need to be very, very congested on your border.
13:14That means a lot, a lot, a huge number of such systems.
13:19And their integration, and this is a huge technical challenge to all of us.
13:25And that's why we need to think as soon as possible to put this world to an end.
13:31And I'm afraid, like President Zelensky, for the winter approaching Ukraine, again, devastating
13:40energy system, transportation, industry, defense industry, warehouses.
13:47And we are suffering from this because the freedom of navigation in the Black Sea is over.
13:55It's over.
13:56And the insurance companies, they don't like anymore to insure the ships.
14:04And this influence the transport system of all the Black Sea countries around.
14:10This is a huge impact on our economies.
14:13Made in Europe, and again, this clear European preference, the U.S. ambassador was right
14:17here just a few hours ago saying, it is clear the new instruments that the EU is creating
14:23are looking to limit the U.S. participation.
14:26This is also coming at a time in which multiple European leaders would question whether or not
14:31President Trump is an ally of the EU.
14:33Are you in favor of legislating in this way?
14:35We cannot immediately guarantee our security by ourselves.
14:42Even talking about the nuclear shield, we cannot go without the United States of America because
14:48they provide the essence of the core defense capabilities in NATO.
14:53We should, it is absolutely clear.
14:56It will take time for us to recover, to renovate our industries, our industrial base, our technology
15:06development.
15:06Should Ukraine be a core part of it?
15:08We heard from the Ukrainians saying the Europeans will need us more than, at this point, we need
15:12them on the technology advancement.
15:14Should we get them in this context?
15:15Ukraine has been already a part of this.
15:19Ukraine has been sharing latest state-of-the-art drone technologies.
15:25They have developed through experimenting them every day on the front line.
15:32Yeah, and finally, Shona, you interviewed the U.S. ambassador to NATO, Matthew Whittaker,
15:38a close ally of President Trump.
15:42And if we say that Trump is critical towards the European Union, that would be an understatement,
15:48as we all know.
15:50Now, listen to what Whittaker said at the summit.
15:54Typically, these hybrid actions, as they're happening or after they happen, can't be determined
16:01who is behind it.
16:02That only comes through investigation by oftentimes law enforcement and judicial processes, together
16:09with intelligence agencies working together.
16:13And at the same time, we're coordinating with allies and coordinating with NATO.
16:18And we were talking about it at the table at the NAC.
16:21So I think that is, right now, a pretty good model for how to address these.
16:28And everyone wants sort of some line in the sand that says, if this happens, then sort of
16:36that means we invoke Article 5.
16:38But Article 5 is really ultimately intentionally vague.
16:42But the bottom line is, let's ask why.
16:45Why is this happening?
16:46It's happening mainly to deter NATO and allies from supporting Ukraine, from supporting other
16:55efforts that the allies and members of the alliance want to support.
17:01And so that just means we should lean in more as to what we're doing.
17:04We should not be deterred.
17:06And I also think it just means we need to invest.
17:09The reason that we made the 5% commitment at The Hague was, in addition to, you know, hard
17:15military power, we also identified the need for resilience.
17:20In the next few months, we'll hear the results of the U.S.
17:24force posture review due by December, we believe.
17:28But we've heard some leaks that it could be as many as 25,000 to 40,000 troops withdrawn
17:33from NATO territory.
17:34Can you give us a bit of clarity about that?
17:35We have reaffirmed over and over the nuclear umbrella that we provide to NATO and our allies.
17:41We have continued to say that we're going to stay engaged in Europe.
17:46This is a, not only is it a forced posture review, it is also a forced posture in basing
17:52review.
17:52And so we're looking at the issues about access basing and overflight, some of which were
17:58a little clunky during Epic Fury.
18:00So, I mean, there's a lot going on right now to make sure that, importantly, and in
18:07America first, you know, sort of from a U.S. ambassador standpoint, America first means
18:12that we look at it from what's in the interest of the United States of America and its people
18:17and its taxpayers.
18:18And so we are doing that right now.
18:20We're saying, you know, what is the value of our basing?
18:23Is it what we thought it was?
18:26And we're just doing a very kind of mathematical, mechanical analysis of how we're laid down
18:34globally because we have to address global challenges.
18:37Our allies expect that out of us to be able to do that.
18:44All right, Shauna, so we had Franken, Radev, Whittaker, who was your favorite?
18:48Oh, well, obviously, Matthew Whittaker was my, the one that was interested in most.
18:53I know, they're all very good.
18:53I think there's a few things that we can point out.
18:55The first thing from the Belgian defense minister, air defense, air defense, air defense,
19:00the scarcity of air defense globally, mainly as a result of the United States burning
19:04through its stockpile because of the war in Iran.
19:06But also Ukraine is therefore suffering, as we know, day to day by these air attacks,
19:12drone attacks, ballistic missile attacks from Russia.
19:15That's a real problem.
19:16At the summit yesterday, we did have an amazing moment from Firepoint, which is a Ukrainian
19:20organization that's trying to create their own Ukrainian-made air defenses, interceptors,
19:26but that won't be on the market for another year or so.
19:28The other piece is I think there's a lack of consensus about how NATO should respond to
19:32these below-threshold hybrid attacks that we're seeing.
19:35The Baltics, much more confrontational about it.
19:38The United States, Mark Rutte saying less so.
19:40Right, lack of consensus also about the nuclear threat.
19:43So Mark Rutte was very clear, there is no real threat, but the Bulgarians had a difference.
19:51They're definitely intimidated by this nuclear threat from Moscow.
19:54And of course, Matthew Whittaker then not being too clear about what's going to happen in
19:58relation to US troops in Asia Territory.
20:00All right, Shona, thank you so much for coming on this morning.
20:03And that does it for us today.
20:06I'm Stefan Grobe and I see you tomorrow.