Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has spurred U.S. allies across NATO to consider major increases in defense spending obligations, trans-Atlantic officials announced Wednesday.
“More countries are now spending at least 2% of their GDP on defense,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Wednesday following a meeting of alliance defense ministers. “So today, allies discussed how to build on the defense investment pledge and future commitments beyond 2024.”
“In Vilnius, our leaders will agree on a new defense investment pledge to ensure that the alliance has the resources to carry out these new plans,” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told reporters Wednesday in Brussels. “We had productive conversations about that pledge, and we look forward to working with our valued allies to ensure that we all do even more to invest in our shared security.
Germany, in recent decades, has presented the example of the largest European economy with a security establishment that hesitated to develop a military force in proportion to that economic power.
Poland, which has provided a staging ground for NATO’s cross-border aid to Ukraine, has blown through that target in response to Russia’s assault, according to Polish President Andrzej Duda, who said that Warsaw is"going to exceed 4% of GDP” for 2022. The Polish government has proposed a defense budget of more than $20 billion for 2023, in pursuit of a rapid upgrade of Polish military capabilities.
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