Rutte urges significant rise in NATO defense spending
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Secretary-General Mark Rutte noted on Saturday that having a budget for defense spending of 2% of gross domestic product (GDP) is "not nearly enough" and expressed his certainty that the figure must go "considerably north of 3%", Azernews reports.
Speaking at the Munich Security Conference (MSC), Rutte said he is "not surprised" by United States President Donald Trump reaching out to Russia to discuss potential solutions to the conflict in Ukraine as his 2024 presidential campaign suggested that. In response to the Old Continent's negative reactions to that development, Rutte urged the European members of NATO to "[g]et into the debate, not by complaining …. but by coming up with concrete ideas."
The secretary-general remarked that "everything is on the table" regarding Ukraine. "We have to end this in a way ... that Putin will not capture one square mile or one square kilometer of Ukraine," he insisted. "I don't think it will be a bad deal."
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