At the NATO summit, the central topic will be the increase in military spending by Alliance members – The New York Times

At the NATO summit in The Hague, the central topic will be increasing military spending by Alliance members. U.S. President Donald Trump is demanding higher expenditures, though he does not explain why.

This is reported by The New York Times.

According to the newspaper, the summit will discuss deterring Iran, but much attention will also be given to Russia. The issue of Russia is awkward, “as member countries tiptoe around the American president and his clearly ambiguous relationship with Moscow.”

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte is confident that spending must be increased to deter militarized Russia. He recently told the British that either they spend funds as demanded by NATO “to keep our societies safe,” or they will have to “learn to speak Russian.”

The summit was expected to adopt a new NATO strategy regarding Russia and the Russian threat, intended to replace the late 1990s approach, when the alliance viewed Russia as a potential partner. However, this was canceled at Washington’s insistence to avoid conflict with Trump, who does not want to toughen policies against Russia. Also canceled was the NATO–Ukraine Council session at the leaders’ level due to Trump’s attitude toward Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Nonetheless, a personal meeting between them is still likely.

The New York Times notes that Zelensky’s role has significantly diminished compared to recent summits, where his struggle against Russia was a central focus.

A draft communiqué—if allies agree to it—links the need for increased military spending to Russia’s aggression in Ukraine, according to one official. However, it does not mention NATO’s previous commitment to the possible membership of Ukraine and Georgia, as earlier summit communiqués did.

Rutte’s goal is to ensure the meeting demonstrates unity and secures support for Trump’s call to boost spending. He obtained agreement within the alliance to allocate 5% of national income to defense, with 3.5% going toward core military needs to meet NATO requirements. This is a major leap from the 2% target set in 2014, now seen as insufficient in light of Russia’s militarization.

Additionally, allies will aim to spend another 1.5% of national income on military-related needs, such as improving roads and bridges, enhancing emergency medical care, and strengthening civil preparedness for war.

A deadline for achieving this goal has not yet been set and may vary (earlier reports suggested a target year of 2035).

Rutte hopes to generally limit the risk of division over contentious issues such as Russia and aid to Ukraine.