London/Moscow, June 10 (UNI) Urging for a 5% hike in NATO’s defence expenditure, the body’s secretary general Mark Rutte claims that Russia seeks to attack NATO nations by 2030.

During his visit to London, Reutte asked all 32 NATO member states to agree to his demand for a big hike in military spending at a summit in the Netherlands this month, reports Arab News.

Speaking at the Chatham House think tank, Rutte said Russia is outpacing the far bigger NATO in producing ammunition, and the alliance must take a “quantum leap” in collective defence.

In recent months, the NATO secretary general has repeatedly called countries such as Russia, China, North Korea, and Iran, hostile countries, and alleged threats emanating from them, thus urging increased militarisation of the multilateral body.

“Wishful thinking will not keep us safe,” Rutte said. “We cannot dream away the danger. Hope is not a strategy. So, NATO has to become a stronger, fairer and more lethal alliance.”

As such, Rutte proposed a target of 3.5% of economic output on military spending and another 1.5% on “defence-related expenditure” such as roads, bridges, airfields and sea ports. He said he is confident the alliance will agree to the target at its summit in The Hague on June 24-25.

According to Moscow, there have been unprecedented attempts by NATO members to contain “Russia aggression”, which the Kremlin has rebuked.

Calling the charges baseless and terming it another piece of Western propaganda against Russia, the Kremlin said that it is open to dialogue with NATO members but only on an equal footing, urging the West to abandon its increased militarisation, reports Sputnik.



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