The Kremlin in a new Friday statement made clear that NATO’s decision to significantly boost military spending, formalized this week at the annual NATO summit in The Hague, which Trump and other leaders attended, won’t have a meaningful impact on Russia’s security.
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov responded to a reporter’s question over what impact NATO’s commitment to 5% of GDP on defense over the next decade for each member state will be by saying, “I don’t think it will have any significant effect.”
“We know what goals we are pursuing; we don’t hide them, we state them openly, and they are absolutely legitimate in terms of any interpretation of the UN Charter and international law. We know by what means we will always ensure these goals,” he said.
NATO has cited the necessity of a drastic increase in spending, which notably Spain has resisted, as necessary based on the “long-term threat posed by Russia to Euro-Atlantic security.”
Throughout over three years of the grinding Ukraine war, Western officials have consistently sounded the alarm over an ‘expansionist’ Russia; however, it has become clear that the Kremlin does not even want to occupy Kiev or Western Ukraine, and that the top goal is solidifying hold over Russian-speaking territories of the east.
In response to this NATO assumption that Putin could breach the ‘eastern flank’ and amid expansionist aims, Russia’s RT has the following:
Moscow has repeatedly said it has no intention of attacking any NATO member states, dismissing such claims as “nonsense” and attributing them to Western officials’ attempts to justify increased military spending.
Meanwhile, this week, the European Union planned to push forward and approve its 18th package of anti-Moscow sanctions, but this has been postponed due to resistance from Hungary and Slovakia.
Also, President Trump has voiced his view that yet more fresh sanctions would likely not have any immediate effect and that the action would be detrimental to peace efforts.
The question of US-backed efforts to get the two warring sides to the negotiating table is very much an open one currently. Both have become even more entrenched in their unwillingness to compromise, with Zelensky having said he won’t even give up Crimea. There is not even a date for a potential next round of Istanbul talks.
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