From stroking US President Donald Trump’s ego to a “Finnish solution” for peace in Ukraine, former NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg opens up about his decade as head of the alliance in a new memoir. “The note said: ‘Secretary General, if you can say that the NATO allies have significantly increased their defence spending thanks to me, then I think we can agree’,” he added. Stoltenberg complied, enabling Trump to claim a victory and, in so doing, reducing the risk of Washington withdrawing from NATO. Stoltenberg, NATO chief from 2014 to 2024, also revealed how he had pushed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to consider ceding land to Russia in a bid to end the war. “On the first occasions I hinted at a ‘Finnish solution’ to the war in Ukraine, Zelenskyy had rejected the idea of ceding any territory outright,” Stoltenberg said.