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NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte called on alliance members to step up their defence spending beyond their common goal of 2% of their GDP,
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte warned on Monday that Russia was “trying to destabilise” countries in the Alliance as he called on members to increase defence spending. “To guarantee our security in the future we also need to ramp up our efforts now,” Rutte said in a joint briefing alongside Portuguese Prime Minister Luis Montenegro, as he visited Lisbon on Monday. “We also know that the goal of 2%, now set a decade ago, will not be enough to meet the challenges of tomorrow. The threat from Russia may seem distant, but let me assure you it is not,” he said as he warned against Russian threats to Portuguese territory. “Russian ships and long range bombers menace the Portuguese coast. Portugal’s fragile undersea infrastructure is squarely in Russia’s sights,” claimed Rutte. PM Montenegro said his government is willing to reinforce its investment in defence but said that there must be European coordination regarding defence investment. The alliance chief also addressed recent cable ruptures in the Baltic Sea.“Just yesterday we saw another incident in the Baltic Sea with disruption to a cable connecting Latvia and Sweden. The good news is through mission Baltic Sentry, NATO’s ships and aircraft are operating alongside our allies over there, enabling a fast, coordinated response.” That rupture followed a string of incidents that heightened fears of Russian sabotage and spying the strategic region. Earlier this month, NATO began a new mission dubbed “Baltic Sentry” which included frigates, maritime patrol aircraft and a fleet of naval drones to provide “enhanced surveillance and deterrence” in the Baltic Sea which the transatlantic alliance says is to protect undersea cables and pipelines. Following his conversation with Portugal’s leader, Rutte travelled to Spain to meet with its prime minister Pedro Sánchez.
