Record number of NATO nations meet defence spending target — Stoltenberg

A record 23 of NATO's 32 member nations are hitting the Western military alliance’s defence spending target this year, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has said.

The estimated figure is a nearly fourfold increase from 2021, when only six nations were meeting the goal.

"Europeans are doing more for their collective security than just a few years ago," Stoltenberg said in a speech at the Wilson Center research group.

Stoltenberg met at the White House with President Joe Biden. The US president said he wished that Stoltenberg, who has been NATO's secretary general since 2014, could serve another term when the current one expires in October.

"We’ve strengthened NATO’s eastern flank ,making it clear that we’ll defend every single inch of NATO territory," Biden added.

NATO members agreed last year to spend at least 2% of their gross domestic product on defence. The surge in spending reflects the worries about the war in Ukraine.

Poland, at more than 4%, and tiny Estonia both lead the United States this year in the percentage of their GDP they spend on defence. Both countries border Russia.

Freeloading on American spending Some countries are looking at the possibility of a Trump reelection. The former US president has characterised many NATO allies as freeloading on American military spending and said on the campaign trail that he would not defend NATO members that don’t meet defence spending targets.

"Shifting US administrations have had the absolutely valid point to say that US allies are spending too little," Stoltenberg told reporters. "The good news is that’s changing."

Stoltenberg's visit is laying the groundwork for what’s expected to be a pivotal summit of NATO leaders in Washington next month. The defence alliance has grown in strength and size since the Russia-Ukraine war broke out two years ago, with both Sweden and Finland joining.

Few concrete deliverables

Much of the focus of the summit is expected to address what NATO and NATO member governments can do for Ukraine as it faces up to its more powerful neighbor. They so far have resisted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s appeals to take his country into the bloc as long as the war is still on.

"When the fighting ends, NATO membership" for Ukraine "assures that the war really ends," Stoltenberg said.

The prospect of Ukraine joining NATO has long been anathema to Putin. He offered last week to order an immediate cease-fire if Ukraine renounced plans to join the alliance.

A weekend conference held in Switzerland was billed as a first step toward peace and ended with pledges to work toward a resolution but had few concrete deliverables.

It was attended largely by Western nations and Russia was not invited. China sat it out and then India, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and Mexico did not sign the meeting’s final document.

Kiev’s outgunned and outnumbered forces are battling to hold back the bigger Russian army, which has taken over chunks of territory. Ukraine has been short of troops, ammunition and air defences in recent months as Russia punches through the front line in eastern parts of the country.