General Alexus Grynkewich is the new highest commander of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation in Europe. He will take charge of, for example, the defence of the alliance’s eastern flank.
The 53-year-old was previously the director of the Joint Staff of the United States Army at the Pentagon. Before that, he was a fighter pilot.
Alexus Grynkewich takes over the banner from his compatriot, army general Chris Cavoli. He is therefore the new leader of the so-called Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR). The fact that an American will once again be at the head is a relief for many member states.
Since NATO was founded, its head has always been an American. However, since Donald Trump returned to power in the US, there have been fears that the Americans may want to withdraw from the alliance.
The 53-year-old Grynkewich, a fighter pilot with more than 2,300 flight hours, was previously the director of operations for the US military’s Joint Staff at the Pentagon in Washington.
The SACEUR commands all NATO forces if, for example, Russia were to attack a NATO country. The Supreme Allied Commander in World War II and later President Dwight D. Eisenhower was the first in 1951.
Grynkewich took office as the new SACEUR at a ceremony at NATO headquarters in Brussels, with much ceremony and a speech by Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.
He expressed his confidence in the ‘Grinch’, as Grynkewich is called in military circles, referring to the character from the animated film of the same name.
