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Latvian MFA confirms NATO's plan for $100-billion fund to supply weapons to Kiev

Asked about the $100-billion fund the media mentioned the day before Latvian Foreign Minister Krisjanis Karins added that each member’s contribution would be determined by the share of the GDP that this or that country allocated to help Ukraine

BRUSSELS, April 3. /TASS/. Latvian Foreign Minister Krisjanis Karins has confirmed the North Atlantic Alliance's intention to create a $100 billion fund for arms supplies to Ukraine.

"The funds will come from the members of the alliance. I think this is a very important proposal by the Secretary General," he said upon his arrival at a meeting of the alliance's foreign ministers in Brussels.

Asked about the $100-billion fund the media mentioned the day before Karins added that each member’s contribution would be determined by the share of the GDP that this or that country allocated to help Ukraine.

"For example, our government plans to spend 0.25% of the GDP this year to support Ukraine," Karins explained.

On April 2, Bloomberg quoted sources as saying that NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg would come up with a proposal at the alliance's summit in the United States in July for creating a $100-billion fund to pay for arms supplies to Ukraine over 5 years, as well as to transfer from the United States under NATO control the coordination of all military supplies to Kiev. Bloomberg explained that Stoltenberg’s proposals should serve as a compensation for NATO's refusal to invite Ukraine into the alliance.

The Financial Times said that this would let the US reduce its assistance to Ukraine from $60 billion to $16 billion. At the moment, as Bloomberg reported, NATO countries were arguing whether their direct bilateral arms deliveries to Kiev should be counted as donations to that fund.

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