MOSCOW, June 26. /TASS/. European citizens are being robbed to finance senseless military activities by the Kiev regime, all in the name of achieving the West’s equally foolish goal of inflicting a strategic defeat on Russia, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Thursday.
Speaking after a meeting with Laotian counterpart Thongsavanh Phomvihane in Moscow, Lavrov commented on NATO's decision to raise defense and security spending to 5% of GDP.
He noted how such a decision impacts ordinary Europeans, who have already lost their shirt in this regard.
"The threat is getting worse, and it is a threat to taxpayers in the European Union and Britain, who have simply been robbed over the past three years," Lavrov said.
"Instead of channeling the benefits obtained through taxation to solve the most acute social and economic issues, this money is being spent on a senseless war in Ukraine, senseless because, for all their posturing, the Europeans have no chance of achieving their declared goals, namely, the strategic defeat of Russia," Russia’s top diplomat added.
NATO leaders have agreed to raise defense spending to 5% of GDP, according to a communique adopted at the conclusion of the NATO summit held on June 24-25 in The Hague.
As part of this commitment, member states will allocate at least 3.5% of GDP by 2035 in accordance with the agreed NATO definition of defense spending. An additional 1.5% of GDP will be directed toward protecting critical infrastructure and networks, enhancing civil preparedness and resilience, fostering innovation, and strengthening the defense industrial base.
The document also states that member countries will factor in direct contributions to Ukraine’s defense and military industry when calculating their total defense expenditures.