Stoltenberg urges the Government to increase defense spending, although he praises its contribution to Ukraine and NATO missions

MADRID, 22 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The NATO Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg, has urged the Pedro Sánchez government to continue increasing defense spending to reach 2% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), although he has praised Spain's aid to Ukraine and its participation in Atlantic Alliance missions.

In interviews on Antena 3 and La Sexta, collected by Europa Press, Stoltenberg has claimed to be "quite impressed" with Spain's contribution to NATO and also with its "significant" support for Ukraine, both military and economic.

Among this aid, he highlighted anti-aircraft defense systems, essential now for Ukraine to be able to defend itself against the attacks that Russia is perpetrating against critical infrastructures by means of drones or missiles.

This Monday, before the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, Stoltenberg already supported the need for the Alliance countries to continue increasing military spending and claimed that the 2% target should not be taken as "a ceiling", but rather "a threshold". .

In this sense, the NATO leader has recognized that countries reduced their defense budgets after the Cold War, but now the war in Ukraine has shown the need to increase that investment in security. "I urge (Spain) that this commitment be even greater to reach 2%", he has claimed, acknowledging however that the Government's commitment to reach this figure has been "clear".

Stoltenberg has insisted that Spain is a "committed and very valuable" ally for NATO and has demonstrated this in recent years with its participation in international missions, among which the fight against terrorism in Iraq has stood out.

As he has acknowledged, although wars are "unpredictable", one must be prepared for a "long-term" conflict because he believes that Russia is willing to subject the Ukrainian people "to terrible suffering".

In his opinion, the war will end at a negotiating table, but he has urged to maintain aid to Ukraine because the greater its force on the battlefield, the greater it will be in that dialogue.

"We are paying the consequences in euros or dollars, they are doing it in blood," he recalled, delving into the fact that an eventual victory for Russia would give its president, Vladimir Putin, the idea that "if he uses brute force, he can achieve what What does he want". "We want peace and the best way to achieve it is by supporting Ukraine," he concluded.

In addition, he has recognized that there is no "evidence" that Russia can attack any country in the Atlantic Alliance, although he has recalled the reinforcement of capacities on the eastern flank to send Putin a "clear" message of deterrence and collective protection. "All for one and one for all", she has emphasized in reference to article 5 of the NATO Treaty, which establishes that an attack on one of its members will be considered an attack on the entire Alliance.

From this response, he has drawn the missile that fell in Poland last week, which he has insisted that the preliminary investigation indicates that it was a Ukrainian missile, or the tensions in the Baltic between Russian fighters and NATO ships, which Stoltenberg has described as " incident" that must be responded to "calmly and firmly.