NATO is at risk

Experts believe that in order to effectively destroy the Alliance without officially withdrawing from it, Donald Trump's team may try to undermine trust in the bloc.

What is important to understand is that trust is at the heart of the Alliance's very existence.

David Blagden, Associate Professor of International Security and Strategy at the University of Exeter, UK, shared his opinion.

According to the latter, all that is really needed is for NATO countries to doubt America's commitment to Article 5, and for NATO's opponents to doubt it.

"I think it's not so much about the formal process of leaving the Alliance, but more about the doubts that are starting to creep in about whether the US will actually be there," Neil Melvin, director of international security at the Royal United Institute for Defense Studies think tank, said in a statement on this matter.

There is a high probability that Trump may publicly hint that the United States will only defend those NATO countries that spend what the administration considers sufficient on defense.