New quarter in Wiesbaden
NATO is already preparing for Trump’s return
03.07.2024, 04:53 a.m.
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Before the NATO summit, plans are leaking out about how the alliance intends to protect itself against Trump’s re-election. In future, arms deliveries to Ukraine will no longer be coordinated by US soldiers, but by a new NATO headquarters in Wiesbaden. The office in Kiev will also be reinforced.
NATO is expanding its civilian presence in Ukraine, which has been attacked by Russia. As a spokesman confirmed, the 32 alliance states have decided to send a kind of special representative to the capital Kiev. The high-ranking official will be responsible for managing the alliance’s political and practical support on site. The background to this is that NATO wants to give the starting signal for a new mission to coordinate arms deliveries and training activities for the Ukrainian armed forces at the summit in Washington next week. The headquarters for this is to be set up in Wiesbaden, Germany.
The alliance was initially unable to say who would be given the new NATO post in Kiev. Further details would be communicated after the official selection, it said. The Wall Street Journal was the first to report on the plans.
NATO has had an official representation in Kyiv for almost a decade, which also manages a liaison office that has existed since the late 1990s and an information and documentation center. Among other things, it maintains contacts with Ukrainian ministries and authorities and is intended to promote political dialogue and practical cooperation between NATO. It also advises authorities on activities to support the NATO-Ukraine partnership and reforms in the security and defense sector. There will also be more staff for this in the future.
The coordination of arms deliveries and training activities, which NATO intends to take over in the future, has so far been led by the United States. At the end of 2022, the United States set up a unit of around 300 soldiers called the Security Assistance Group-Ukraine (SAG-U) at the European headquarters of the US armed forces in Wiesbaden, Hesse.
The NATO project is also seen as a precaution in the event of a possible return of Donald Trump to the US presidency in January 2025. Statements by the Republican in the past had raised doubts as to whether the USA would continue to support Ukraine under his leadership in the defensive war against Russia as it has done so far. The alliance fears that a political change of course in Washington could also affect the coordination of arms deliveries and training activities for the Ukrainian armed forces.