LONDON

NATO’s secretary general on Monday reiterated the need to boost defense budgets, warning that member states spending 2% of their GDP "will not be enough to keep us safe."

Speaking at a joint news conference in Brussels alongside British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Mark Rutte said that since the world is growing dangerous, the allies must be better equipped to meet any threat across all domains, "both now and in the future."

"Russian destabilization campaigns in allied countries are on the rise," he said, citing examples of cyberattacks on some Western nations.

He said that to prevent war, allies must spend more, adding that the challenges they face are complex, but together in the NATO alliance, "there's nothing we cannot do."

"In a more dangerous world, 2% will not be enough to keep us safe. We need to invest considerably more."

Rutte said: "The US has to ramp up. Norway has to ramp up, the UK has to ramp up, the EU, including the big countries like Italy and Spain and Norway, outside the EU, of course, but also, of course, France and then Türkiye."

"So all these big defense industrial base countries have to ramp up defense production," he added.

Rutte called the Russia-Ukraine war – now nearly three years old – a "geopolitical thing playing out,” saying that China, North Korea, and Iran are "all getting connected” to Moscow.

Collectively, the alliance is able to protect the collective NATO territory, including the US, he said.

"And the US is also under threat now with the long-range missiles coming out of North Korea, maybe in the future thanks to all the technology the Russians are delivering" to Pyongyang.

Thus, he said, for so many reasons, the allies "have to stay connected."

'Trump's got Putin rattled'

For his part, Starmer said he had a "very good and productive discussion" with Rutte on how they can meet the "rising threats that Russia poses across our continent."

"We are all working to end this war. But let's be absolutely clear, peace will come through strength," said the British premier, adding that the allies "must do all" that they can to support Ukraine's defense.

And that's why, he said, this year the UK will give more military support to Ukraine than ever before.

"We need to see all allies stepping up, particularly in Europe," said Starmer, adding that Russia is "seeking to destabilize the continent and "target our values."

"(US) President (Donald) Trump has threatened more sanctions on Russia, and it's clear that that's got (Russian President Vladimir) Putin rattled."

He said they know Putin is "worried" about the state of the Russian economy.

Starmer also stressed that Britain wants to deliver an ambitious UK-EU security partnership to bolster NATO.

The pair's remarks came following an informal meeting of EU leaders to discuss European defense.