NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte issued a major warning to the members of the Western military alliance, saying Russia is « preparing for long-term confrontation. »
While some members of the alliance still don’t reach the two percent target members are required to fork out, Mr Rutte said NATO countries will soon need to consider much higher defence spending.
Delivering a speech in Brussels, he said: « Russia is preparing for long-term confrontation, with Ukraine and with us.
« We are not ready for what is coming our way in four to five years, » the NATO secretary-general said, adding: « It is time to shift to a wartime mindset, and turbocharge our defence production and defence spending. »
This comes following UK Defence Secretary John Healey’s shock decision to slash defence spending by £500m last month, scrapping six military projects.
The move was branded « f****** bonkers » by chemical weapons expert and British Army officer Hamish de Bretton-Gordon.
« We’re as close as we’ve been to war with Russia since the Second World War [and] we announce a half billion cut in our conventional defence. It was the lack of conventional defence that encouraged Putin to invade Ukraine in the first place », he said.
He added: « When he looked west on February 24 2022, he didn’t see a conventional defence. So I think number one is that [cutting defence] is crazy. »
Labour had committed to spending 2.5 percent of GDP, however it’s unclear over what period that will be achieved. The NATO target is two percent.
Defence spending among the rest of the NATO alliance varies. The biggest spenders in terms of GDP per capita is Poland, where spending has increased beyond four percent of GDP.
Next up is Estonia, which spends just under 3.5 percent. The USA comes in third just behind, followed by Greece and Latvia – all three states spend above three percent.
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