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NATO chief admits to sleepless nights over Russia

According to Mark Rutte, Russia is the main threat for the alliance at present and in the longer term

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte AP/Julia Demaree Nikhinson

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte

© AP/Julia Demaree Nikhinson

ANKARA, July 1. /TASS/. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte believes Russia to be the main threat to the alliance and admits that this keeps him up at night.

"Usually, I try to sleep at night, but if something keeps me up, it's Russia. <…> China is having a massive buildup of its own military, will have 1,000 nuclear warheads by 2030. So, let's not be naive about China. But <…> Russia is the main threat now and in the longer term," the NATO chief told the Anadolu news agency in an interview ahead of the upcoming NATO summit in Ankara on July 7-8. He added that one of the alliance’s priorities is "maintaining support for Ukraine."

When asked about his expectations for the summit, Rutte said he hopes that, once it concludes, "people will say it was a summit that implemented the commitments made in The Hague [last year]." These were increasing defense spending and strengthening the military-industrial complex. "There are several successful examples, and things are generally getting better. One of the most important priorities is increasing production output in the defense industry. We will address this issue first at the NATO Defense Industry Forum on the summit’s opening day," the NATO chief noted.

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