European NATO members are inferior to Russia in their military potential and must compensate for this gap by increasing defense spending, former NATO Secretary General (2014-2024) Jens Stoltenberg said in an interview with the Financial Times.
As the publication notes, the former head of the alliance admitted that European countries currently have too few weapons, equipment, and military personnel in a state of high readiness for a potential conflict.
“We know that we are lagging behind [Russia],” he said. “I can’t say exactly how much money needs to be spent [to compensate for the gap]. But I can say with confidence that if the allies are going to implement everything they promised, it will cost much more than 2% of GDP, be it 2.5% or 3%.”
According to Stoltenberg, Moscow is also aware of this state of affairs. Asked what he regrets most after leaving his post as NATO Secretary General, Stoltenberg said NATO should have started transferring lethal weapons to Ukraine earlier.