Germany Increasing Military Spending as 'It Can't Rely Only on US'

The German government is raising its defense budget up to two percent of GDP in accordance with the requirements of NATO, German newspaper Deutsche Wirtschafts Nachrichten wrote.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel justified the need for such a decision by the existence of so called "new asymmetric threats" and noted that the Europeans can't always be dependent on the spending of the United States and rely only on Washington.

While German authorities announced their intention to increase the country's military spending in accordance with the requirements of NATO, Russia views such developments as a threat to its security, the newspaper noted.

Earlier, Russia's Permanent Representative to NATO Alexander Grushko said that NATO's military buildup in Eastern Europe worsens the security situation and imposes a confrontational scheme in relations with Moscow.

According to Merkel, all NATO countries decided to increase their military spending up to two percent in the long-term perspective.

"Germany has not reached this goal so far," the German leader said.

According to the newspaper, the current Bundeswehr spending makes up only 1.2 percent of the country's GDP. However, in the context of the upcoming NATO summit, Germany might be expected to allocate additional funds taking into account "the growing tensions in relations with Russia," the newspaper noted.

Merkel stressed that the EU is currently facing "new asymmetric threats" and that NATO prescriptions, including the two percent defense spending, should be implemented into practice. The German Chancellor also noted that this is the "common position of the federal government," DWN reported.

Earlier, Der Spiegel wrote that in this regard Berlin has been a subject to strong pressure from Washington. German authorities expressed their readiness to deploy its soldiers in Lithuania as part of NATO's mission aimed at "containing" possible Russian aggression.