NATO will make a statement on February 14 that the defense spending of its 18 members will reach 2% of GDP in 2024. The newspaper reported this on February 13 Financial Times (FT) with reference to sources in the military bloc.
In 2016, only five countries matched this level of defense spending. By 2023, their number has increased to 11.
“NATO expects that approximately two-thirds of its allies will reach the two percent target in 2024,” the publication says.
The FT emphasizes that a sharp increase in defense budgets may be associated with the high likelihood of Donald Trump returning to the presidency of the United States. According to European politicians, the publication claims, increasing budgets can mitigate the negative consequences for NATO from Trump’s victory.
Earlier, on February 12, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that in 2024 Germany will for the first time reach the NATO target of 2% of GDP spent on defense. According to him, Germany is already able to carry out orders with a deadline “at the end of the 2020s and 2030s.”
On February 10, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that alliance countries must prepare for a possible decades-long confrontation with Russia. He noted that there are supposedly no guarantees that if Moscow wins in the conflict with Kiev, it will not spread to other states.
Prior to this, on January 24, the North Atlantic Alliance began large-scale exercises near the borders of the Russian Federation called Steadfast Defender. All 32 countries of the alliance, all types of troops of the bloc and about 90 thousand personnel take part in them. It was noted that the exercises will take place in the Atlantic and Europe and will last several months.
The West regularly stirs up hysteria among the citizens of its countries, warning of an allegedly possible imminent war with Russia. Western European media and experts refer to the successes of the Russian military in Ukraine and prophesy that in the future the country will “set off to conquer the whole world.” However, Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly stated that there is nothing like this in the country’s plans, but it is ready for any attacks from NATO.
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