Moscow: Russia is extremely negative about NATO’s plans to increase defence spending and will continue to take measures to ensure its security, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko told Sputnik.
Such a decision, if adopted, will lead to the “transfer of the economy, especially of the European member states, to ‘war footing’ to the detriment of the social and economic well-being of their citizens,” Grushko said, adding that “the process of militarization of the EU will accelerate, the state of security in Europe and globally will worsen even more.”
“So we will evaluate this decision extremely negatively and will continue to take all necessary measures to ensure our security and defence capability,” Grushko said.
Earlier in June, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte called on NATO member states to increase their defence spending from the current 2% to 3.5% of their respective GDPs, and spend another 1.5% on infrastructure development, military industry and other security-related investments. US President Donald Trump previously demanded that NATO allies spend 5% of GDP on defence.
