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BRUSSELS.- In a combative start to his visit to NATO, Donald Trump claimed on Wednesday that a pipeline project makes the first of its kind. Germany "totally controlled" and is "prisoner of Russia ".
The President of the United States also criticized the defense spending of Alliance members at the beginning of what should be a summit that will include a list of demands on US allies.
In a tense exchange of statements with the Secretary General of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg, Trump opposed his country to protect Germany when the European nation made deals with Russia .
"I must say that I think it is very sad that Germany concluded a massive oil and gas deal with Russia where we are supposed to protect Russia "said the US President at a breakfast with Stoltenberg, his first act after landing in Brussels.
"We are supposed to protect them against Russia but they pay billions of dollars to Russia and I think that's very inappropriate."
The leader seemed to refer to the North Stream 2 pipeline, which will transport gas from Russian soil to the northeastern coast of Germany in the Baltic Sea, passing through countries in Europe. from East as Poland and Ukraine ] Russia can send directly to Germany .
The United States and some members of the European Union oppose the vast submarine pipeline, claiming it could give Moscow greater influence over Western Europe .
" Germany as far as I am concerned, is a prisoner of Russia " explained Trump who urged the NATO to re-examine the issue.
Stoltenberg responded by saying that NATO members have always been able to work together despite their differences. "I think the two world wars and the cold war have taught us that we are stronger together than we are," he told Trump, trying to calm the tension.
Later, Trump tweeted a video of the conversation.
Upon arriving at the NATO summit in Brussels, Merkel defended the independence of her country and recalled that she had been brought up in communism in Germany .
Without mentioning directly the US President, he told reporters: "I myself have lived part of 19459003 in Germany controlled by the Soviet Union and I am very happy that today We are all united in freedom as the Federal Republic of Germany and we can say that we can determine our own policies and make our own decisions, that's fine. "
A few hours after the claims of Germany the press secretary of the White House, Sarah Huckabee Sanders announces that Trump who was accused of being too good to Putin – who has been accused of intervening in the last US presidential elections – will meet later in the day with Merkel and with the President of France, Emmanuel Macron.
Journalists will not be able to He did not cover both meetings.
The dramatic exchanges between the two leaders set the tone for what should be a tense day of meetings with the leaders of the military alliance.
Expected Trump to continue to press his allies on military spending during the summit, which comes at a time of particular fragility in relations between the United States ] and those who have traditionally been the most important allies. next to Washington.
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