Spend more or get ready to speak Russian, Nato chief warns UK

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5 hours ago

People in Britain had 'better learn to speak Russian' if the Government does not ramp up defence spending, Mark Rutte has suggested.
The Nato secretary general also warned that Russia could attack Nato by 2030 in a speech in London on Monday.
Asked by The Telegraph if Rachel Reeves should increase taxes to fund a defence budget of 5 per cent of GDP, Mr Rutte said: 'If you do not go to the 5 per cent, including the 3.5 per cent for defence spending, you could still have the NHS…the pension system, but you better learn to speak Russian. That's the consequence.'
The Nato secretary general has for weeks been pressuring allies to boost spending on defence and security to a combined 5 per cent in order to placate Donald Trump, who has threatened to withdraw American troops from Europe.
Mr Rutte, who also met Sir Keir Starmer in Downing Street on Monday, was speaking hours after Russia launched its largest-ever drone attack against Ukraine, triggering Nato to scramble jets in Poland.
'We see in Ukraine how Russia delivers terror from above, so we will strengthen the shield that protects our skies,' Mr Rutte said.
He added that Nato needs 'a 400-percent increase in air and missile defence' to maintain credible deterrence and defence.
'The fact is, we need a quantum leap in our collective defence,' he said.
He said 'we are all on the eastern flank', referring to the border with Russia, adding that the distance between European capitals is 'only a few minutes' for Russian missiles.
Last Monday, as part of the Strategic Defence Review, the Prime Minister pledged to spend 3 per cent of GDP on defence by the end of the next parliament.
However, less than 24 hours later, Nato said the figure would have to rise to a minimum of 3.5 percent, which Sir Keir has agreed to without confirming how this will be achieved.
Sir Keir will be under renewed pressure to explain how this uplift will be funded ahead of the Chancellor's spending review on Wednesday.
The Defence Secretary has previously refused to rule out tax rises to fund an increase in defence spending.
One of the central messages from Mr Rutte's speech in London urged alliance members to boost capabilities to produce materiel, arguing that Nato armies needed 'thousands more armoured vehicles and tanks'.
'Russia produces in three months what the whole of Nato produces in a year,' he said, which was followed by another stark warning: 'Russia could be using military force against Nato in five years.'
But Mr Rutte also conceded that Vladimir Putin knows an attack on Nato would carry 'devastating consequences'.
He said: 'We are deadly serious that if anyone tries to attack us, the consequences of that attack would be devastating, be it Russia or anyone else.
'This is not only about money and weaponry but mentality. We do realise there is a lot at stake here. The people trying to act against us must understand that.'
Mr Rutte warned that China is developing its military power at breakneck speed.
'The main long-term threat against Nato is Russia. There's no doubt. But there is more than Russia. Nato was never established only to fight the Soviet Union,' he said.
'It was about protecting Nato from anyone who wants to attack us. What you see in China is an enormous build up of their military.'
Taking questions after his speech, Mr Rutte insisted that the US remained committed to Nato.
But he also admitted that the US had carried 'too much of the burden' in propping up the alliance as he urged Europe and Canada to spend more on defence.
'American allies have broad shoulders. Europe and Canada will do more for our shared security. That will be backed by America's rock-solid commitment to Nato,' he told the audience at Chatham House.
As Mr Rutte was speaking, Canada announced it would pour extra billions into its armed forces and hit Nato's spending target five years earlier than promised.
Canada has been under pressure from the United States and other Nato allies for years to increase military funding. Canada currently spends about 1.4 per cent of GDP on defence.
'Now is the time to act with urgency, force, and determination,' Mark Carney, the Canadian prime minister, said in a speech in Toronto, reiterating promises to work more closely with Europe's defence industry.
Thanks for following our live coverage of Mark Rutte's speech at Chatham House in London.
Here's a reminder of what he said:
Nato members should boost defence spending to five per cent or be prepared to speak Russian, Mr Rutte warned
Mr Rutte also singled out Moscow as the most significant threat facing Nato
'Russia could be using military force against Nato in five years,' he warned
Mr Rutte warned that China was developing its military power at breakneck speed
Taking questions from the audience, Mr Rutte insisted that the US remained committed to Nato, despite reports that Mr Trump was planning to withdraw troops currently stationed in Europe later this year
While Mr Rutte may paint a positive picture of the UK's position on defence, he paints a rather gloomy picture of world affairs.
'The world we thought we were entering in after Berlin Wall came down is definitely gone,' he warns.
'Vladimir Putin is clearly expansionist. His economy is on a total war footing.'
Again, he stresses that while the Nato economy is 25x bigger than Moscow's, adding: 'Russia is outpacing us 4-1'.
It is worrying and his concerns that Europe might sleep walk into a war it could win if it was well prepared are real.
Some of the key themes that he will surely raise at The Hague summit will include the need for Nato to invest in Air defence systems, of which 'we simply do not have enough', he has said.
'We need five times as many systems to defend ourselves against missiles.'
It is unclear if he thinks Nato can get there, but it is definitely something he will be pushing hard for in the coming weeks.
Mark Rutte has said that Ukraine is still on an 'irreversible path' to Nato.
'It's my assumption it will be there after the summit' at the Hague in June, he told a journalist at Chatham House, who asked about whether the US would veto Kyiv joining the military alliance.
Mark Rutte is very positive about the UK's recent Strategic Defence Review, more so than other commentators have been since it was published a week ago.
He praised John Healey, the Defence Secretary, for investing is 6 new munitions factories.
What keeps him up at night, he tells us, is Nato nations failing to invest in production. That what will lose a war with Russia are empty ammunition stockpiles, not spending a certain amount on defence.
He said following a day spent with Mr Healey and the Prime Minister, he is confident with Britain's defence strategy.
However, his comments do not diminish the need to reach 5% of gdp on defence.
He insists he is confident Nato nations will get there and that they will resolve this at The Hague summit later this month.
Which is a rather upbeat take on the state of defence right now.
Mark Rutte has refused to say whether Sir Keir Starmer agreed to boost defence spending to 3.5 per cent during their meeting in Downing Street today.
Asked about his meeting with the Prime Minister, Mr Rutte said: 'Every country is working in cycles to update its defence strategy.'
He continued: 'I'm really impressed by the strategic defence review. It's exactly what we need. The drones, the latest technology, investing in six factories producing ammunition. This is at the core of the UK defence review, including spending targets.'
As Mark Rutte delivered his speech at Chatham House, Canada announced it would pour extra billions into its armed forces and hit Nato's spending target five years earlier than promised.
Canada has been under pressure from the United States and other Nato allies for years to increase military funding. Canada currently spends about 1.4pc of GDP on defence.
'Now is the time to act with urgency, force, and determination,' Mark Carney said in a speech in Toronto, reiterating promises to work more closely with Europe's defence industry.
Mark Rutte has warned that any attack on Nato would carry 'devastating consequences', singling out Russia.
'We are deadly serious that if anyone tries to attack us, the consequences of that attack would be devastating, be it Russia or anyone else,' he said.
'This is not only about money and weaponry but mentality. We do realise there is a lot at stake here. The people trying to act against us must understand that.'
Asked if Nato's main threat was Russia or China, he said: 'The main long-term threat against Nato is Russia. There's no doubt. But there is more than Russia. Nato was never established only to fight the Soviet Union. It was about protecting Nato from anyone who wants to attack us. What you see in China is an enormous build up of their military.'
Mark Rutte will now take questions after delivering a speech at Chatham House in London.
We'll bring you his answers as they come in.
America has carried 'too much' of the burden of holding up Nato, the military alliance's chief has admitted.
'American allies have broad shoulders. Europe and Canada will do more for our shared security. That will be backed by America's rock solid commitment to Nato,' he said in a speech in London.
Russia could attack Nato within five years, Mark Rutte has warned.
The Nato chief, who is delivering a speech at Chatham House in London, said there was 'no longer east or west' given the speed and lethality of Russian missiles.
'We are all on the eastern flank now,' he said, adding: 'The distance between European capitals is only a few minutes.'
Kicking off his speech at Chatham House, Mark Rutte said he welcomed the UK government's strategic defence review, which set out how the government will boost defence spending.
'I welcome that the UK government will spend more in the future,' he said.
'I know we can count on the UK as we start the next chapter for Nato.'
Mark Rutte has now started his speech. You can watch him speak at the top of this page.
The Kremlin has condemned Nato's plan to quadruple its spending on air and missile defence saying it is European taxpayers who will suffer.
Mark Rutte, head of the Western military alliance, will today urge for a 'quantum leap' in defence capabilities including a '400 per cent increase' in aerial defences to shield Nato against Russia.
In response to the expected speech, Dmitry Peskov, Vladimir Putin's spokesman, said Nato 'is demonstrating itself as an instrument of aggression and confrontation'.
'European taxpayers will spend their money to defuse some threat that they say comes from our country,' he said.
Gaps in the alliance's air defences are considered one of the Western alliance's most pressing challenges.
'We see in Ukraine how Russia delivers terror from above, so we will strengthen the shield that protects our skies,' Mr Rutte will argue at Chatham House think tank in London, after a meeting with Sir Keir Starmer.
Mark Rutte, the secretary general of Nato, is about to deliver a speech at Chatham House in London, where he will argue for members to boost defence spending to counter the threat of Russia.
You will be able to watch the speech live at the top of this page when it starts.
The head of Nato will today announce that the military alliance needs to increase air and missile defence spending by 400 per cent.
Mark Rutte, who is on a visit to London, has been pushing members to boost defence spending to 3.5 per cent of GDP, and a further 1.5 per cent security-related spending to meet Donald Trump's demand for a 5 per cent target.
Mr Rutte believes the target will be agreed at the Nato summit in the Hague later this month, where the major air and missile defence boost will be top of the agenda.
At a speech at the Chatham House think-tank, Mr Rutte will argue: 'We see in Ukraine how Russia delivers terror from above, so we will strengthen the shield that protects our skies.'
'The fact is, we need a quantum leap in our collective defence. The fact is, we must have more forces and capabilities to implement our defence plans in full. The fact is, danger will not disappear even when the war in Ukraine ends.'
Gaps in Nato's air defences are considered one of the Western alliance's most pressing challenges.
Errol Musk, father of Elon, has been pictured sitting next to Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, at a ultra-nationalist conference in Moscow.
Mr Musk is one of a number of controversial attendees at the conference, which also includes Alex Jones, the American conspiracy theorist.
Volodymyr Zelensky has said that a fresh prisoner exchange with Russia is ongoing and will take place in several rounds over the 'coming days', announcing that Kyiv had received the first group of captives from Russia.
'Today, an exchange began, which will continue in several stages over the coming days,' the Ukrainian president said on social media.
'Among those we are bringing back now are the wounded, the severely wounded, and those under the age of 25,' he added.
The deal to exchange prisoners of war and repatriate the bodies of killed fighters was the only concrete agreement reached at talks in Istanbul earlier this month.
Russia is 'too weak' to attack Nato because it cannot even defeat Ukraine, the Hungarian prime minister has said.
Asked if the war in Ukraine could spill into a conflict with Nato, Viktor Orban said: 'The Russians are too weak for that. They are not capable of defeating Ukraine, so they are not capable of attacking Nato.'
But Mr Orban also said that Ukraine was losing the war and that it cannot be resolved by Europe.
'Neither the Europeans nor the Ukrainians can reach an agreement with the Russians. There will have to be an agreement between the Russians and the Americans,' Mr Orban added.
A United Nations investigation has found that Russia committed war crimes by launching drone strikes on civilian areas in Kherson, which residents said turned the city into a 'human safari'.
The Telegraph previously spoke to one Kherson resident, Tatiana, who survived a kamikaze drone attack in the middle of a street packed with civilians.
Anastasia, a 23-year-old aid worker and Tatiana's niece, said at the time that she felt her home city had become increasingly dangerous because of Russian terror attacks.
'More and more residents of the city cannot leave the house, even for food, because there is a great possibility that they will not return home,' she told the Telegraph. 'It was so lucky my aunt came home unharmed.'
The Kremlin said on Monday that an advance by Russian forces towards Ukraine's Dnipropetrovsk region was partially motivated by a desire to create a 'buffer zone'.
Russia said on Sunday its forces had advanced to the edge of the east-central Ukrainian region, a claim which Kyiv has denied.
If true, it would mark the first time Russian troops have reached the region in the three-year war. Its capital, Dnipro, is a major military hub for Ukraine.
Asked if the advance was designed to create a buffer zone, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: 'Without a doubt that is part of it.'
Gaps in Nato's air defences are considered one of the Western alliance's most pressing challenges.
If using the war in Ukraine as the blueprint for a future conflict with Russia, cities, military bases, logistical hubs and factories will all be targeted in long-range attacks.
Previous estimations have suggested that Nato's militaries only have enough air defence systems to cover 5 per cent of its Eastern flank with Russia.
Some allies, like Britain, do even take surface-to-air systems particularly seriously. For example, the UK's armed forces employ the Sky Sabre system, but only have access to a handful of them. It is believed one is on loan in Poland, and another protecting the Falklands.
When Mark Rutte, Nato's secretary-general, delivers a speech at the Chatham House think tank later on Monday, he will warn air defence systems need to be increased four-fold across the alliance.
They are at the centre of his new capability targets, agreed by Nato defence ministers last week, which will see defence spending jump up to 3.5 per cent across the alliance.
Other crucial gaps to plug include long-range missiles, heavy and light armour and the logistics needed to move vast numbers of forces rapidly from west to east in the event of a Russian invasion into Nato territory.
The Kremlin said that Nato's plan for a huge boost in air and missile defence was an 'instrument of aggression and confrontation'.
The Western military alliance 'is demonstrating itself as an instrument of aggression and confrontation', Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in Moscow.
Mark Rutte, Nato Secretary-General, is due to say in a speech in London on Monday that the alliance needs a 400 per cent increase in air and missile defence.
Russia launched 479 drones at Ukraine in the biggest overnight drone bombardment of war, the Ukrainian air force said on Monday.
As well as drones, 20 missiles of various types were fired at different parts of Ukraine, according to the air force, which said the barrage targeted mainly central and western areas of Ukraine.
Ukraine's air force said its air defences destroyed 277 drones and 19 missiles on Sunday night, claiming that only 10 drones or missiles hit their target. Officials said one person was injured.
It was not possible to independently verify the claims.
We will be bringing you all the latest updates from Nato chief Mark Rutte's statements in London and the war in Ukraine.