Fact check: Has NATO chief Rutte threatened to expel the US?

With Donald Trump as president-elect of the United States, it is not clear what exactly his Ukraine policy will look like in the future. NATO partners feel left in the dark about Trump's willingness to support Kyiv and its European allies in fighting back Russian troops from Ukrainian territory.

Social media users are also speculating about the possible impact of the US election on the NATO alliance. And it is not the first time Russian disinformation websites have stirred up rumors and misinformation about the block. NATO has often been the target of disinformation in the past, as in this case. 

Claim: NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte allegedly announced that "if Trump surrenders Ukraine to Putin, he will personally expel the United States from the alliance." The claim originally posted on Telegram was spread by an X user on November 10, and  has already garnered over 2 million views . Other X posts with similar allegations have also been viewed several million times.

The alleged statement by NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte is "bogus" according tho NATO's press office. Such false claims form part of a disinformation campaign against the transatlantic defense allianceImage: X

DW Fact check: False.

There is no evidence for this alleged statement by NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte. In response to a written request from DW, NATO also stated that this claim is "bogus."

According to Article 13 of the 1949 NATO treaty, members can declare their withdrawal, but the document does not provide for a member to be expelled. The only measure the treaty provides to sanction serious violations of the alliance's principles is a joint decision by the other member states to restrict or suspend cooperation.

Moreover, the NATO Secretary General is not entitled to take any such resolution on his own. The member must make any decision concerning the alliance states collectively.

"I look forward to seeing him soon"

Rutte's supposed assertion also does not correspond to the political positions he's expressed publicly. On November 7, the NATO Secretary General congratulated Donald Trump on his "remarkable election victory" on X and wrote: "I look forward to seeing him soon. We will work together to tackle the many security challenges we face."

Long time Dutch Prime Minister Rutte met Trump during his first presidency in the Oval Office in Washington, D.C.Image: Olivier Douliery/CNP/AdMedia/picture alliance

Nothing indicates an end to the cooperation. On the contrary, in an interview at the meeting of the European Political Community in Budapest on November 7, Rutte reaffirmed his confidence in working with Trump. "He [Trump] understands that you have to deal with each other to come to joint positions. And I think we can do that," he said.

However, he also made it clear that a Russian military success in Ukraine would not only be a problem for the European NATO members but also the United States.

"NATO is a target for disinformation"

The false NATO claim about Mark Rutte was not only spread on Telegram. The post also spread in several articles on the websites of the Pravda network, which has been exposed as a Russian disinformation network by various fact-checking organizations. It is not to be confused with the homonymous Russian newspaper founded in 1914 by Russian revolutionary Vladimir Lenin.

 "The primary objective of the disinformation campaigns is to destabilize NATO by creating tensions among the Allies," Dick Zandee, head of the Security and Defense Program at the Clingendael Institute in The Hague told DW. "The election victory of Donald Trump, who has a very critical attitude on NATO, offers new potential for such disinformation activities." 

The USA is the most important source of military and economic support for Ukraine. An end to US support for Ukraine could lead to a decisive turning point in the war and allow the Kremlin to shift the military balance in Ukraine in its favor.

"NATO is a very likely target for disinformation as it is portrayed by Russia as the organization responsible for the war in Ukraine," Zandee told DW.

False narratives to discredit NATO

False information about NATO is anything but new. According to a study by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD), campaigns that spread false narratives about NATO expansion, among other things, have become more frequent since the Russian annexation of Crimea in March 2014 to justify the full-scale attack initiated on Ukraine on 24 February 2022.

DW's fact-checking team has proven various claims about the transatlantic alliance wrong. The aim behind such statements has always been the same: to discredit NATO and sow discontent against the Western alliance.

Edited by: Rachel Baig