Faced with the Russian threat, NATO leaders will decide on Wednesday at the Madrid summit to bring "well above" 300,000 men the troops at a high level of preparation, announced Monday the Secretary General of the Alliance.
"I think the allies will make it clear in Madrid that they see Russia as the biggest and most direct threat to our security," Norwegian Jens Stoltenberg said when presenting the summit's stakes.
"This summit will be a turning point and several important decisions will be taken," he said.
“We need to invest more”
“We will strengthen our battlegroups in the eastern part of the Alliance, up to brigade level,” he said.
Eight battlegroups were created.
They are based in Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, Poland, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia and Bulgaria.
They will be reinforced by “pre-designated” units in other Alliance countries called upon to intervene in these countries where heavy weapons will have been pre-positioned, he explained.
The Alliance will also "transform its 40,000-strong Response Force" and increase the number of its high-readiness forces "well above" 300,000 troops, he added.
“Together, these measures constitute the biggest overhaul of our collective defense and presence since the Cold War.
And to do that, we need to invest more,” he warned.
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Allies have pledged to devote 2% of their GDP to defense spending in 2024, but only nine of the 30 members have reached this target in 2022 (Greece, United States, Poland, Lithuania, Estonia, United Kingdom, Latvia , Croatia and Slovakia).
A war that could last “for years”
France is at 1.90%, and Germany at 1.44% and Spain, the host country of the summit, is second to last on the list at 1.01%, ahead of Luxembourg (0.58%). , indicate the data published Monday by NATO.
“To respond to the threat, this 2% target becomes a floor, plus a ceiling,” announced Jens Stoltenberg.
"19 allies have clear plans to achieve this goal by 2024 and five others have made concrete commitments," he said.
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