NATO allies increasing defense spending by 18% this year: Stoltenberg

By Servet Gunerigok

WASHINGTON (AA) - NATO allies are increasing their defense spending by 18% this year, marking the biggest increase in decades, the alliance’s secretary general said Monday,

"And 23 allies are going to spend 2% of GDP or more on defense this year. That's more than twice as many as four years ago, and (it) demonstrates that European Allies and Canada are really stepping up and taking their share of the common responsibility to protect all of us in the NATO alliance," Jens Stoltenberg said during a meeting with US President Joe Biden at the White House.

Stoltenberg recalled that NATO members will celebrate the 75th anniversary of the alliance in Washington, D.C. next month, during which he said they will make important decisions for the future.

In his remarks, he thanked Biden for his "strong leadership" on Ukraine and congratulated him on signing a bilateral security agreement with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

"European allies are also stepping up and matching the US contributions military support to Ukraine, and I expect that when we meet next month, we will agree to have NATO in a lead role in providing security assistance and training, and also that allies will agree to step up financial and nuclear support to Ukraine," Stoltenberg said.

"This will reduce the burden on the United States and strengthen our support to Ukraine. I think it's important to understand that the stronger our support for Ukraine is, the sooner this war can end," he added.

Biden thanked Stoltenberg for his work in "making NATO stronger.”

"Together, we’ve deterred further Russian aggression in Europe. We’ve strengthened NATO's eastern flank, making it clear that we’ll defend every single inch of NATO territory," he said.