Exclusive: As alliance members arrive at The Hague summit, secretary general says Moscow capable of launching attack within three to five years
Mark Rutte, Nato’s secretary general, said it was “not a difficult thing” to get members to agree to raise defence spending to 5% of GDP because of the rising threat from Russia – and stressed that Trump remained “absolutely” committed to supporting the alliance.
In an interview on the eve of the western alliance’s summit, Rutte told the Guardian that all 32 members had agreed to increase defence spending because “there is so much at stake” after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
Under the planned agreement, Nato members would commit to raising defence spending to 3.5% of GDP, with an additional 1.5% allocated to broader security-related investments, including cyber-security and intelligence.
Rutte said: “The security situation has changed so much, and people know that when the call comes [in the event an attack on a Nato member] … you now need to deliver to the collective endeavour, what you promised, that you better have your stuff there.”
