EU’s Kallas says Russia doesn’t ‘stand a chance’ if Nato shows unity
The bloc’s foreign policy chief said that increased defence spending alone was not enough to deter Moscow
The EU’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas said on Wednesday that Russia does not “stand a chance” against Nato, but the alliance needs to “stick together” in the face of a belligerent Moscow.
Speaking ahead of a Nato summit in the Netherlands with alliance members under US pressure to massively ramp up military budgets, Kallas warned that increased defence spending alone was not enough to deter the Kremlin.
“Today, against Nato and the EU, Russia doesn’t stand a chance. But we must stick together,” Kallas told the European Parliament in Strasbourg.
“When Nato leaders meet next week, keeping unity in the alliance is as much a priority as spending more on defence.”
Nato leaders look set to agree to a major increase in military budgets as they meet in The Hague next week.
But the alliance, which includes 23 of the European Union’s 27 member states, has been rattled by questions over the reliability of the United States under President Donald Trump and Washington’s commitment to Europe’s defence.
On Tuesday, leaders from the Group of Seven nations, which brings together Nato’s biggest economies – Italy, the US, France, Germany, the UK and Canada – plus Japan, stopped short of a joint condemnation of Russia for its growing attacks on Ukraine at a summit in Canada, after Trump’s early departure from the meeting.