Nato chief calls for 400% increase in air and missile defences to counter Russian threat

Mark Rutte wants large rise in military spending as threat from Russia will remain ‘even when war in Ukraine ends’

Russia could be ready to attack Nato “within five years” and leaders of the western alliance are expected to agree to increase military spending to 5% of GDP later this month to contain the threat, the alliance’s secretary general has said.

Mark Rutte said in a speech in London on Monday that Nato needed “a quantum leap in our collective defence”, which would include significant rearmament to deter an increasingly militarised Russia.