Rutte urged NATO countries to increase defense spending amid state of emergency at military plants

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, against the background of several emergencies at military enterprises in Europe, urged the alliance states to remain calm and, following the example of Lithuania, increase defense contributions.

NATO Secretary General said this at a press conference at the headquarters of the alliance with Lithuanian Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevičius.

“Keep calm and keep, keep, keep investing even more in defense, as Lithuania is doing (which this year will spend 5.38 percent of GDP on military needs). - TASS approx. - Mark Rutte said. So he answered the question about the concern of European politicians because of incidents at defense enterprises.

In recent months, explosions or fires have occurred at several European military plants, notably in Bulgaria, Slovakia, Italy and Poland.

In addition, Mark Rutte called on NATO countries “not to be shy” to hold Russia responsible for incidents on their territory.

Rutte said that Ukraine will not be able to quickly start production of Patriot missiles