Biden opposes Wallace's appointment as NATO Secretary General because of F-16s for Ukraine

US President Joe Biden has supposedly blocked the candidacy of UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace for the post of NATO Secretary General because the UK, without Washington's consent, began to promote the idea of training Ukrainian pilots on F-16s. Source: The Telegraph, referring to its sources, reported by European Pravda Details: As it is known, Ben Wallace was considered one of the priority candidates for the post of NATO Secretary General in the event of Jens Stoltenberg's resignation.

However, it was unofficially reported that Biden did not support his candidacy, although Prime Minister Rishi Sunak lobbied for such a decision.   The reason for Biden's position was supposedly that the UK began to actively promote the idea of training Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighter jets and forming a coalition with other allies on this issue without first obtaining US consent.

The outlet has noted that this is not the first time London has made a bold move on weapons for Ukraine, hoping to push the US. The UK itself will not be able to provide Ukraine with F-16s because it does not have them.

Background: The media outlets have also found out that Biden is most favourably disposed to the candidacy of the current President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, whose term in office will end by then.  On Tuesday, the allies officially extended Jens Stoltenberg's mandate as NATO Secretary General for another year as they failed to agree on a candidate for his successor. Stoltenberg himself had hoped to leave the post of secretary general, which he has held since the autumn of 2014.

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