NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte reiterated that he “has not changed” his view of Russian President Vladimir Putin, telling reporters after the 25 June summit in The Hague that he “doesn’t trust the guy” and believes the Kremlin “cannot be happy” with the meeting’s outcome. At the gathering, alliance leaders formally welcomed Finland and Sweden as full members and endorsed a plan for every member state to lift defence spending to 5 % of gross domestic product by 2035. Speaking alongside US President Donald Trump at the White House on 14 July, Rutte said that if he were in Putin’s position he would “reconsider and take negotiations on Ukraine more seriously”. He criticised Moscow for dispatching an “unserious” delegation to the Istanbul talks, recalling that Russian envoys arrived with a historian “explaining events since 1250” rather than concrete proposals. Rutte’s blunt assessment underscores NATO’s effort to present a united front as the war in Ukraine enters its fourth year. By coupling the largest defence-spending pledge in the alliance’s history with public pressure on Moscow to engage in substantive diplomacy, the secretary general signalled that members intend to back Kyiv militarily while leaving open a negotiated settlement—provided the Kremlin treats the process in earnest.