Spain will have to raise defence spending to 3 per cent of gross domestic product, European Commissioner for Defence Industry and Space Andrius Kubilius said.
The 23 members of the European Union, including Spain, that belong to NATO are expected to agree at a summit of the alliance in June to raise the defence spending target above the current 2 per cent of national output.
Andrius Kubilius told the El Pais newspaper on May 3 Spain’s new target would have be be to spend 3 per cent of GDP on defence to head off the threat of Russian aggression in Europe, adding it would be the government’s task “to find a way to increase defence spending in the near future”.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on May 4 in an upcoming interview with Russian State television published on Telegram that Russia had the strength and the means to bring the conflict in Ukraine to a “logical conclusion”.
In the programme entitled Russia, Kremlin, Putin, 25 years, he was also asked by a reporter about the risk of nuclear escalation from the Ukraine war.
“There has been no need to use those weapons … and I hope they will not be required,” the Russian leader said
“We have enough strength and means to bring what was started in 2022 to a logical conclusion with the outcome Russia requires.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the same day that a ceasefire with Russia in its more than three-year-old war was possible at any moment and called on Kyiv’s allies to apply greater pressure on Moscow to put the measure in place.
The Ukrainian President, speaking at a joint news conference in Prague alongside Czech President Petr Pavel, said that unless he were squeezed harder, Putin would make no real moves to end the conflict.
“We believe that without increased pressure, Russia will not take real practical steps to end the war. Today marks the 54th day that Russia has ignored even the American proposal to completely cease fire,” Zelensky told reporters.
Regarding military defence spending, US President Donald Trump has called on NATO allies to lift military spending to as much as 5 per cent.
Spain, which spent 1.3 per cent on defence in 2024, the lowest among NATO members, said it would meet NATO’s target of spending 2 per cent of GDP this year, much earlier than its previous self-imposed deadline of 2029, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez had said on April 2.
The far-left Sumar party, the junior partner with the Socialists in Spain’s coalition government, opposed the increase to 2 per cent.
NATO chief Mark Rutte has proposed NATO members boost defence spending to 3.5 per cent of GDP and commit a further 1.5 per cent to broader security-related spending to meet Trump’s demand for a 5 per cent target, people familiar with the proposal told Reuters on May 2.
Rutte’s proposal could allow the US President to declare a win at a NATO summit in The Hague in June while not committing European nations and Canada to a 5 per cent pledge on core military spending that many see as politically and economically unviable.
In a move that has unsettled European observers, Chinese President Xi Jinping will make an official visit to Russia from May 7-10, officially to participate in celebrations of the 80th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany, the Kremlin said on May 4.
In a statement on Telegram, the Kremlin said Xi will meet Putin in Moscow to discuss the development of the two countries’ strategic partnership, as well as signing a number of documents.
“During the talks, the main issues of further development of relations of comprehensive partnership and strategic interaction, as well as current issues on the international and regional agenda will be discussed,” the Kremlin said.
Zelensky said Ukraine, given the continued war with Russia, could not guarantee the safety of any foreign dignitaries who went to Moscow for the traditional May 9 victory parade.
He has has in recent weeks upped criticism of China, which he has said was providing weapons and gunpowder to Russia.
Russian state news agency RIA cited Putin as saying on May 4 that Russia’s relations with China were: “Truly strategic in nature, deep-seated”.
“Our national interests coincide,” he added.
