NEW YORK, October 9. /TASS/. The total defense spending of the countries making up NATO’s eastern flank significantly increased after Russia launched its special military operation in Ukraine, reaching $70 bln in 2024, Bloomberg reports.
The agency points out that 14 NATO countries have ramped up defense spending to a level not seen since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Poland, where defense expenditures reached 4.12% of GDP this year, tops the list, followed by Estonia (3.45% of GDP), Latvia (3.15%), Greece (3.08%) and Lithuania (2.85%).
Meanwhile, the defense ministries of the countries on NATO’s eastern flank note that rising defense spending means a higher burden on taxpayers. "Will it (Europe - TASS) be willing to tighten its belt and tell its citizens that, for the next few years, or even a decade, the standard of living might not improve because we need to prioritize our security?" General Daniel Zmeko, chief of staff for Slovakia’s armed forces, told Bloomberg.
Defense officials in eastern NATO member states emphasize that after upgrading military equipment, their countries faced a lack of skilled personnel. In addition, the region currently does not have enough warehouses to store the increased amount of weapons.
NATO defense spending
Since the early 2000s, Washington has been trying to make sure that European NATO members increase their defense spending and purchase more military hardware, mostly US-made, as part of a policy described as "burden sharing." However, the goal of bringing defense spending to 2% of GDP was adopted as mandatory for all of the bloc’s members only in 2014, after the Maidan coup in Ukraine and a significant rise in tensions with Russia. Still, NATO failed to achieve the goal. According to Jens Stoltenberg, who served as NATO secretary general in 2014-24, only 23 out of the alliance’s 32 members had raised their defense spending to 2% by GDP in October 2024.
Bloomberg reported in July that ex-US President Donald Trump might demand NATO members spend 3% of GDP on defense if re-elected in November. In February, Trump suggested incumbent US President Joe Biden should be reminded that NATO countries must pay their fair share and that they were spending a lot less on Ukraine than Washington.
New NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said at a press conference in Brussels in October that NATO’s 2% target was no longer enough to achieve the alliance’s goals. He stressed that NATO allies would have to purchase thousands of pieces of new weapons, including fifth generation aircraft. Finnish President Alexander Stubb, in turn, called for building NATO 3.0. He explained that the alliance’s border with Russia had doubled in length after Finland’s accession, so its resources also needed to increase.