At this year's Munich Security Conference, tensions in the U.S.-European relationship were on full display. Top European officials slammed President Donald Trump's “America first” vision, and leaders grappled with how to manage Russian aggression and other threats. Back in Washington, special counsel Robert Mueller's indictment of 13 Russians for alleged interference in the 2016 presidential election was announced on Friday, the first day of the conference. The news prompted U.S. national security advisor H.R. McMaster, in Munich for the event, to describe Russian interference as “incontrovertible,” followed by a rebuke on Twitter from Trump.
Amid the drama, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg sat down on the sidelines of the conference for an interview with Foreign Policy's diplomatic reporter, Robbie Gramer, to discuss U.S.-NATO relations under Trump, tensions with Russia, a new NATO mission in Iraq, and the deterioration in Turkey's relations with the West. This interview has been lightly edited for clarity and brevity.
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