Rasmussen, Anders Fogh

Born in a farmer's family. He began his political career at the age of 17, becoming the founder of the Society of Young Liberals in the city of Viborg . After 3 years, in 1973, he became a member of the Central Council of the Liberal Party . In 1974 he ran for Volketing (parliament), in 1978 he was first elected deputy from amta Viborg . In the same year he received a higher economic education at the University of Aarhus and joined the Danish Federation of Small and Medium Enterprises, where until 1984 he worked as a consultant.

• Since 1984, he has been a member of the leadership of the parliamentary faction of liberals; since 1985, he has been vice-chairman of the national organization of the Liberal Party, from 1987-1992 - Danish Minister of Taxation. In 1996, he became a member of the Board of Representatives, and in 1998, the Board of Directors of the National Bank of Denmark .
• Since 1998 - Chairman of the Liberal Party of Denmark.
• November 27, 2001 was elected Prime Minister. Supporter of reduced state participation in the economy and social welfare of citizens. In 1993, he published a book entitled “Fra Socialstat til Minimalstat” (literally, “From a social state to a minimal state”).
• In 2007, he announced that he intends to hold a referendum in Denmark on the country's accession to the Eurozone and the introduction of a single European currency, the Euro .
• In March 2009, the leaders of Great Britain, France and Germany decided to elect Anders Fogh Rasmussen to the post of NATO Secretary General , which he could take after the term of the then leader of this organization (he was Jaap de Hoop Scheffer ). At the NATO summit in April 2009, the United States expressed its support for Rasmussen’s candidacy. Turkey initially opposed Rasmussen’s candidacy and even warned of the possibility of using its veto ^[3] , but later revised its position and agreed with Rasmussen’s choice. Italy and Spain also supported his candidacy. ^[4]
• On April 4, 2009, he was approved as Secretary General of NATO , after which he resigned the next day as head of the Danish government. The successor of Fogh Rasmussen as prime minister was Lars Löcke Rasmussen .
• On October 1, 2014, he left the post of NATO Secretary General and was replaced by 55-year-old former Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg .
• Since the summer of 2015, an adviser to Goldman Sachs ^[5] .
• May 27, 2016 appointed freelance adviser to the President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko .
• Since January 2018 - Deputy Chairman of the Board of the Latvian Norvik Banka ^[6] .

Iraq

In 2003, Rasmussen stated that

Iraq has weapons of mass destruction. We don’t think about it, we know about it. Iraq itself admitted that it has mustard gas , nerve gas , anthrax , but Saddam does not disclose this. He does not want to tell us where and how this weapon was destroyed. We know this from the UN inspectors, so I have no doubt.

Original text (Danish)

Irak har masseødelæggelsesvåben. Det er ikke noget vi tror. Vi ved det. Irak har selv indrømmet, at det har haft sennepsgas, nervegas, miltbrand, men Saddam vil ikke afregne. Han vil ikke fortælle os, hvor og hvordan de våben er blevet destrueret. Det ved vi fra FN's inspektører, så der er ingen tvivl i mit sind. ^[7]

In 2014, former CIA analyst Ray McGovern Speaking about Rasmussen ’s criticism of the crossing of the Ukrainian border by a Russian humanitarian convoy , he noted in 2003 that he “with absolute certainty” declared that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction , although later information did not find any confirmation ^{[8] [9] [10]} .

Russia

• September 4, 2014 : At the NATO summit in Wales , Rasmussen said that Russian President Vladimir V. Putin would like to create protracted smoldering conflicts in Russia’s neighboring countries to hinder their integration with the EU and NATO. According to Rasmussen, Transnistria , South Ossetia and Abkhazia are examples of policies in which territorial conflicts are transferred to the chronic phase, while Russia controls the situation by deploying its peacekeeping forces in such areas ^[11] ).
• January 27, 2015 ^[12] , after Ukraine declared the Russian Federation an aggressor country, Rasmussen said:

Aggression of Russia is the most serious crisis in Europe after the fall of the Berlin Wall .

On April 17, 2014, Russian President Vladimir Putin during the television program Direct Line with Vladimir Putin said that in 2002 , as Prime Minister of Denmark, Rasmussen was at an unplanned meeting about which, according to Putin, he he was asked, “he took a voice recorder with him, secretly recorded it on the voice recorder, and then published in the press” their conversation, explaining this by recording their conversation for history. Putin also noted that he was flattered, but believes that “it was necessary to at least warn or at least ask permission to publish these negotiations,” since such an incident undermines confidence ^{[13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19]} . On the same day, NATO spokeswoman Oana Lungescu made a categorical refutation calling the words of the Russian president “complete nonsense” and stated that “neither Mr. Rasmussen nor anyone else brought a voice recorder to record the conversation with Mr. Putin,” and also expressed an opinion that with his statement, the President of Russia made an attempt to divert public attention from the actions of the Russian authorities on the issue of Ukraine ^{[16] [20] [21] [22]} . Along with Lungescu, special adviser to NATO Secretary General Jonas Thorpe made a rebuttal, saying that "these charges are completely absurd," because, according to him, the whole period that Rasmussen was prime minister of Denmark, he "never wore a voice recorder so that to record negotiations with Mr. Putin or someone else ” ^{[14] [16]} . April 18, Danish journalist and documentary filmmaker Christopher Gouldbransen told the Ritzaus Bureau that the incident occurred in 2002 in Brussels, where the eastern expansion of the EU and the conflict in Chechnya were discussed. He then worked on the Danish television channel DR 2 and shot the documentary “ Fogh backstage ” ( Dat. Fogh bag facaden ), and at a press conference following the discussion, he himself fixed a microphone on Rasmussen’s clothes. According to him, having come out of there, the Prime Minister went to meet with the Russian President without removing the microphone. Gouldbransen notes that their conversation "was recorded and used in the film." Gouldbrandsen expressed the opinion that both politicians did not discuss anything serious: “They talked about journalists. Rasmussen jokingly said that the Russian media are not as critical as the Danish, and Putin replied: “They are all bandits, all as one.” Guldbrandsen also noted that Rasmussen is usually quite careful not to wear a microphone for personal meetings ^{[14] [16] [17] [18] [22] [23]} .

• Cavalier of the Grand Cross of the Order of Danebrog ( Denmark , April 7, 2009 )
• Medal of Merit in Gold (Denmark, December 17, 2002 )
• Cavalier of the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit for the Republic of Poland (2003)
• Cavalier of the Grand Cross of the Order of the Grand Duke of Lithuania Gediminas ( Lithuania , April 21, 2004 ) ^[24]
• Order of the Cross of the Land of Mary 1st Class ( Estonia , February 4, 2009 ) ^[25]
• The Great Officer of the Order of Three Stars ( Latvia , October 16, 2004 ) ^[26]
• Cavalier of the Grand Cross of the Order of the Orange-Nassau ( Netherlands , January 30, 2014 )
• Order of Stara Planina, 1st Degree ( Bulgaria , April 11, 2014 )
• St. George medal of 1 degree ( Ministry of Defense of Bulgaria , April 11, 2014)
• Honorary Doctor of the University of Bucharest ( Romania , May 24, 2013 )
• Order of Liberty ( Ukraine , August 7, 2014 ) - for a significant personal contribution to the development of cooperation between the Ukrainian state and the North Atlantic Alliance , significant support in upholding the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Ukraine ^{[27] [28]} .

• Biography
• Rasmussen, Anders Fogh - an article in the Lentapedia . year 2012.