With Donald Trump as the president-elect of the United States, it's 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's not the first time Russian disinformation websites have stirred up rumors and misinformation about the bloc. 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.

DW Fact check: False.

There is no evidence of this alleged statement by 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 alone. Members must make decisions collectively concerning the alliance states.

Rutte: '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, he congratulated 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."

Nothing has indicated 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 for the United States.

'NATO is a target for disinformation'

The false NATO claim about 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's 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 US 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, 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 in February 2022.

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

Edited by: Rachel Baig