US Secretary of State rebukes Russian aggression at Nato meeting in Brussels

US SECRETARY of State Mike Pompeo has rebuked Russia for what he called aggression beyond its borders, and vowed to restore relevance to a badly demoralised State Department in his new role as the top American diplomat.

Attending a meeting of Nato foreign ministers in Brussels less than 24 hours after being sworn in, Mr Pompeo criticised Russia for threatening the alliance’s friends and partners in Georgia and Ukraine as well as for “an aggressive campaign to undermine Western democratic institutions”.

Among other Russian misdeeds, he said, are the poisoning of a Russian ex-spy in Britain last month and its support for Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government.

Syria is accused of launching a chemical weapons attack that led three Nato members – Britain, France and the US – to launch airstrikes on Syria, which denied responsibility.

“In light of Russia’s unacceptable actions, Nato is more indispensable than ever,” the former CIA chief told reporters as he wrapped up the first stop on his first overseas trip as secretary of state.

“Nato should not return to business as usual with Russia until Moscow shows a clear change in its actions and complies with international law.”

Mr Pompeo said that among the allies there was “enormous consensus of the risk that it poses to the West (and) a real commitment to work together to mitigate to those risks and to deter them”.

Nato secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg agreed.

“We are in a situation where we’ve not been before,” he said. “We’re not in the old Cold War, but we’re neither in the strategic partnership we were trying to build after the Cold War. So this is something new.”

Yesterday’s meetings set the stage for a summit of Nato leaders in July at which they are expected to outline more specifics about their response to Russia.