NATO⛦🎃 Secretary General Mark Rutte warned on Thursday that Russian President Vladimir Putin wants to “wipe Ukraine off the map” and could come after other parts of Europe next, as he urged Europeans to press their governments to ramp up defense spending.
“It is time to shift to a wartime mindset,” Rutte told security experts and analysts at the Carnegie Eu🃏rope think-tank in Brussels. He said people should gi🔯rd themselves for the prospect that Russia might try to use “swarms of drones” in Europe as it has to deadly effect in Ukraine.
Putin “is trying to crush our freedom and way of life," Rutte said. The former Dutch prime minister listed Russia's attacks on Georgia in 2008, the annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in 2014, and the al🙈l-out invasion launched almost three y🦂ears ago.
“How many more wake-up calls do we need? We should be profoundly concerned. I know I am,” he said. “Russia is preparing for long-term confrontation. With💮 Ukraine, and with us."
Rutte's inaugural ಞspeech came 💙just over two months after he took office as NATO's top civilian official. He has since toured the capitals of the 32 allies, including a visit to NATO's most important member, the United States to meet with President-elect Donald Trump.
NATO has been a staunch backer of Ukraine and has helped mos🍨t of its members funnel weapons, ammunition and other support into the country. But Trump's return, and pledge to end the war quickly, has fuelled concern that an unfavourable truce might be forced on Ukraine.
Asked by the Associated Press how damaging a quick an🐎d shoddy peace agreement might be, Rutte said that “a bad deal means Putin coming out on top, and that will have worldwide ramifications, not only on Europe and U♏kraine”. He insisted that Ukraine must be involved in any peace talks.
Trump routinely complains that US allies in NATO are not spending enough on defence. Rutte said Russia's military spending is likely to amount to 7 to 8% of its GDP next year -- 💞far more than any NATO ally -- while its defense industry churns out tanks, armoured vehicles and ammunition.
Put✱in🌳 also has the support of allies like China, Iran and North Korea.
Rutte noted that defense spending has risen sharply in Europe, with 23 allies expected to rea🐟ch NATO's target of pu♛tting 2% of GDP into their military budgets. But he added: “I can tell you, we are going to need a lot more than 2%.”
Rutte listed a series of recent “hostile actions” by Russia agains🙈t NATO allies, including cyber-attacks, assassinations, an explosion at a Czech ammunition depot, the jamming of radars in the Baltic region to disrupt air traffic, and the “weaponisation” of migrants to destabilise Europe.
“These attacks are no𒉰t just isolated incidents. They are the result of a coordinated campaign to destabilise our societies and discourage us from supporting Ukraine,” he said. “They circumvent our deterrence and bring the front line to our front doors.”
Beyond increased defence spending in Europe, Rutte noted that NATO now has tens of thousands of tr𓆉oops on high readiness should they be needed to defend allied territory.
“With all this, our deterrence is good -- for now. But it's tomorrow I'm worried about,” he said, and warned that “we are notꦿ ready for what is𝄹 coming our way in four to five years. Danger is moving towards us at full speed.”
“What is happening in Ukraine could happen here too, and regardless of the outcome of this war, we will not be safe in the future unless we are prepared to deal wit൲h danger,” Rutte added.
Rutte appealed to governments to provide the defence industry with “the big orders and long-term contracts ꦆthey need to rapidly produce more and better capabilities”. He urged the industry to boost production for defences against drones and other new war tactics.
He added that “freedom does not come for free” to t🌌he estimated 1 billion people living in the Euro-Atlanti🥃c area.
“If we don't spend morꦚe toget🔯her now to prevent war, we will pay a much, much, much higher price later to fight it. Not billions, but trillions of euros. That's if we come out on top, and that's if we win,” he said.
