US senator defends NATO, urges tougher pressure on Russia

WASHINGTON

US Sen. Chris Coons said Saturday that strong American support for NATO and collective defense remains intact, pushing back against suggestions that the US is reconsidering its commitment to European allies.

Speaking at a panel discussion on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference alongside Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, Coons addressed concerns about US rhetoric on Greenland – a Danish territory – and transatlantic relations.

"You asked me to defend the American position. I will tell you only 17% of Americans want to, in any way, be involved in threatening Greenland. The vast majority of Americans saw this as a foolish gambit," said Coons, a Democrat, referring to President Donald Trump’s controversial push for the US to acquire Greenland.

Coons, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, stressed that NATO remains “overwhelmingly popular” with the American public.

He noted that Congress has approved significant funding for NATO, collective defense initiatives, and support for Ukraine.

"We should do more, and we will, because it remains popular with the American people," he said.

"The American people know that our security and our future lies with NATO and lies with this community of shared principles."

Asked is there a chance that NATO will emerge stronger from the end of Trump's second term than it was before, Coons said he hopes so, "and will work for it to be so."

Trump has been broadly dismissive of the NATO alliance, a position that has alarmed the US foreign policy establishment, Democrats, and the public at large.

'Europe should be seeking energy options where it can, but not from Russia'

Turning to energy policy and the war in Ukraine, Coons urged European nations to diversify energy supplies away from Russia.

"I think Europe should be seeking energy options where it can, but not from Russia. What is continuing to fund and fuel literally (Russian President Vladimir) Putin's murderous war machine is those countries that continue to buy Russian oil and gas, the single largest buyer being China," he said.

Coons welcomed recent sanctions imposed by Trump on two of Russia’s largest oil companies and efforts to expand economic pressure, saying such measures are broadly supported in the US Congress.

“It’s the pressure on Putin that is needed to move the war of aggression against Ukraine towards a just and sustainable resolution,” Coons said.

The senator also accused Trump of dedicating "as much time" to pushing Ukraine to make concessions to end the war.

"I am very grateful that our European partners have stepped up to provide the resources, the weaponry, much of which bought from the United States. But we have to balance this equation and push Putin to raise the costs of this war for him, or he will not conclude (it). And we have to achieve (this) through negotiations," he said.