SU-30SM, SU-35S, and SU-34 flying in formation - Sputnik International, 1920
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NATO Expects Members to Increase Defense Spending by Over 8% This Year

© JOHN THYSNATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg gestures as he speaks during a joint press conference with Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration after their bilateral meeting at the NATO headquarters in Brussels on January 10, 2022.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg gestures as he speaks during a joint press conference with Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration after their bilateral meeting at the NATO headquarters in Brussels on January 10, 2022.  - Sputnik International, 1920, 07.09.2023
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MOSCOW (Sputnik) - NATO expects its member states to increase their defense spending by more than 8% this year, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Thursday.
"And this year, we expect NATO allies to increase defense spending by more than 8% in new terms," Stoltenberg said at a meeting of the European Parliament's foreign affairs committee and security and defense subcommittee.
A destroyed tank of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the village of Troitskoye, Lugansk People's Republic. File photo - Sputnik International, 1920, 20.08.2023
Analysis
Scott Ritter: For NATO and Ukraine, Reality Bites
Stoltenberg added that Ukrainian crisis has made cooperation between NATO and the European Union even more important.
The NATO head also said that Ukraine has never been closer to the membership in the alliance than now.
"These three things [from the Vilnius summit in July], the interoperability, the networking Council, and removal of the requirements for Membership Action Plan for Ukraine, demonstrate that Ukraine has never been closer to a membership in NATO than now," Stoltenberg said.
Kiev has long been dreaming about NATO membership, yet Western politicians made it clear that Ukraine will not be admitted to the military alliance until the end of hostilities.
Volodymyr Zelensky leaves the stage after addressing a media conference at a NATO summit in Vilnius - Sputnik International, 1920, 13.07.2023
Analysis
Scott Ritter: NATO Summit Serves Up Cringe Nothing-Burger
Previously political experts told Sputnik that US will never grant Ukraine NATO membership and will simply use this country as “anti-Russian” foothold.
Kremlin officials repeatedly stressed that NATO expansion on the East and Kiev plans to enter US-backed military alliance were one of the reasons the special military operation was launched.
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