Radio Cadena Agramonte emisiora de Camagüey
Moscow, June 5th. - NATO defense ministers, meeting in Brussels on Thursday, agreed on the largest rearmament program in decades, citing Russia as a persistent threat to the military bloc, DPA reports, citing sources close to the talks.
This massive expansion of deterrence and defense capabilities is planned to take place in the coming years, and its main priorities include long-range weapons systems, air defense, and mobile ground forces. With this, each NATO country will receive specific instructions from the Alliance on how it must contribute.
Furthermore, the bloc's current military targets will be increased by nearly 30%, the agency reports. The outlet notes that this would be a particularly difficult challenge, given that, to date, most NATO member countries have not yet managed to meet current defense spending targets.
On June 5, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth affirmed that all NATO countries must increase defense spending to 5% of gross domestic product. Hegseth insisted that NATO cannot and will not rely on the U.S., although he asserted that the United States is prepared to take a step forward and needs its allies to do the same.
On the previous day, Rutte also noted that the Atlantic Alliance needs maintenance and investment in light of the alleged threat posed by Russia to its member states. In this context, he again urged the bloc's European member states to increase defense spending. (Text and photo: RT)
