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US, EU are rearming despite economic difficulties — former Ukrainian MP

This is a very serious threat, Nikolay Azarov said

MOSCOW, April 15. /TASS/. The United States and the European Union have allocated vast sums of $1.5 trillion and €1 trillion, respectively, for rearmament, despite the economic challenges facing the modern world, former Ukrainian Prime Minister (2010-2014) Nikolay Azarov said in an interview with TASS.

"[US President Donald] Trump has set a $1.5 trillion military budget for 2027. Is such a budget necessary in peacetime? Just recently, the US defense budget was $600 billion. This is a huge sum, allowing the US to maintain hundreds of foreign bases virtually everywhere on the globe, have a powerful navy, and have a powerful defense industry. <...> And what will come after all this? There will be a qualitative rearmament of the US. I emphasize, qualitative," Azarov noted.

According to the former Ukrainian premier, the European Union is pursuing a similar policy. "The EU has also set aside €1 trillion for annual rearmament spending. <...> This is a very serious threat, and in this situation, the question arises of how to respond to these threats," the former prime minister added.

He also emphasized that if all the strategists in the US and EU who make decisions about military budgets truly believed that a global economic crisis was approaching due to the conflict in the Middle East and other global challenges, they would not be pursuing such a policy. "They believe that there are certain risks, but not so great as to abandon such serious programs," Azarov noted.

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