NATO headquarters in Brussels
Photo: Julien Warnand/ dpa
US General Christopher Cavoli becomes the new supreme commander of NATO troops in Europe.
The North Atlantic Council approved his nomination in Brussels on Tuesday, a spokeswoman for the military alliance said on Twitter.
Cavoli assumes military leadership of NATO amid the Ukraine war and the highest tensions with Russia since the Cold War.
In the summer, Cavoli is to succeed the previous military chief Tod Wolters, as NATO further announced.
According to US media, Wolters is retiring.
In his new role, Cavoli will, among other things, lead the approximately 100,000 US soldiers in Europe and monitor arms deliveries to Ukraine.
The four-star general was born in Würzburg during the Cold War and speaks Russian.
He is the son of a US-Italian officer and grew up on military bases.
Cavoli himself joined the army in 1987 and has commanded US troops for Europe and Africa from headquarters in Wiesbaden since 2020.
The Commander-in-Chief (Supreme Allied Commander Europe, Saceur for short) is traditionally a US general in NATO, while the Europeans provide the Secretary General with the Norwegian Jens Stoltenberg.
Stoltenberg extended
Stoltenberg should also be replaced this year - his regular term ends on September 30, after which he actually wanted to become head of the central bank of Norway.
But because of the Russian attack on Ukraine, NATO extended his contract by a year.
Stoltenberg has a reputation as a skilled mediator between the sometimes very different interests of the now 30 NATO countries.
He is particularly credited with moderating the dispute over defense spending by the European allies, which escalated during the tenure of US President Donald Trump.
Trump even threatened at times that the United States would leave the alliance.
ok/AFP
