BRUSSELS (Sputnik) — New US defense Secretary James Mattis urged the other 27 NATO members on Wednesday to increase their defense spending or face Washington "moderating" its commitment to the alliance.
"The danger lies in the fact that NATO defense spending increase stipulates a serious spike in weapons procurement. In essence, if these plans will be realized, we could find ourselves in the situation of a cold war, when the military planning, aimed at countering a 'large enemy,' would generate respective policies," Grushko told Russian reporters commenting on the results of the NATO’s summit in Brussels.
Since 2014, relations between Russia and the European Union and the United States, deteriorated amid the crisis in Ukraine. Brussels, Washington and their allies introduced several rounds of sanctions against Russia on the pretext of its alleged involvement in the Ukrainian conflict, which Moscow has repeatedly denied. In response to the restrictive measures, Russia has imposed a food embargo on some products originating in countries that have targeted it with sanctions.
Since then, NATO has been building up its military presence in Europe, particularly in eastern European countries bordering Russia, using Moscow's alleged interference in Ukraine as a pretext.
