Brussels.- NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte asked this Tuesday to invest more resources in the face of a growing threat from Russia, whose technological advance would allow it to make a missile impact in Madrid only "five or ten minutes" after in the eastern flank of the Alliance.
"With the latest Russian missile technology, for example, the current difference between Lithuania, on the front lines, and Luxembourg, The Hague or Madrid, is five to ten minutes. That's how long it takes this missile to reach these parts of Europe," Rutte indicated in a press conference in Luxembourg.
The allied secretary general, who met with Luxembourg's Prime Minister, Luc Frieden, and his Minister of Defense, Yuriko Backes, warned that to
"maintain strength" of the Alliance it is essential to spend more on defense, and in that line the allied leaders agreed this summer at their summit in The Hague to increase their military investment to 5% of the gross domestic product (GDP).
"We are doing this because the Russian threat increases every day. Let's not be naive about it. This could also affect Luxembourg, my country, the Netherlands... someday. Now we are all safe. We think we are far from Russia, but we are very close," he argued.
Thus, he asserted that
"we are all under the direct threat of the Russians, we are all on the eastern flank. Now, whether you live in London or Tallinn, there is no difference anymore."
In that sense, he assured that the United States is "absolutely committed" to NATO and has confirmed that the Russian threat is "long-term for the entire Alliance."
"We know that Russia is a long-term threat to the Alliance. At this moment, there is a huge increase in the Russian Armed Forces and Army, and not just to organize these parades in Moscow, but to use them," Rutte commented.
"And they are using them, as we speak, in Ukraine, and they could use them elsewhere. Therefore, it is essential that our deterrence is such that they never try to attack NATO," he continued.
Frieden, for his part, announced that his Luxembourg will participate in the next group of countries that gather an investment of 500 million dollars in American weapons to send to Ukraine within the so-called PURL initiative.
Funded by European allies and Canada, this new initiative consists of periodic packages, each worth approximately $500 million, which will contain equipment and ammunition identified by Ukraine as operational priorities.
These include capabilities that the United States can provide in greater quantities than Europe and Canada alone.
Rutte again congratulated US President Donald Trump for "the fact that he is really taking the lead with regard to any efforts in Ukraine in favor of peace."
"President Trump has made ending this brutal war an absolute priority. Since February, he broke the deadlock with (Russian President, Vladimir) Putin and held phone conversations with him," he recalled, adding that, "a couple of weeks ago, he committed the United States to participate in Ukraine's security guarantees."
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