Lithuania Pledges to Boost Defense Spending After Trump Demand

(Bloomberg) -- Lithuania plans to increase defense spending to deter potential threats from Russia after US President-elect Donald Trump urged European allies to boost funds for the military.

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Trump has threatened to abandon NATO and demanded members of the military alliance more than double the current target for defense expenditure to the equivalent of 5% of economic output.

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Lithuania is now poised to become the first nation in the alliance to hit that goal after President Gitanas Nauseda said spending would be raised to 5-6% of gross domestic product starting from next year as it finances a new army division to be created by 2030.

The Baltic states and Poland have led the way in increasing defense spending in Europe since the Kremlin’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine as they share borders with Russia or its ally Belarus. Lithuania already planned expenditure of 4% of GDP this year.

“The possibility of Russian military aggression remains realistic, but it’s not inevitable,” Nauseda said after a meeting of the state defense council in Vilnius. “We must significantly raise our efforts to strengthen defense, deterrence and to allocate greater resources for this goal.”

With Trump’s inauguration due Monday, Mark Rutte, the secretary general of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, has signaled that the alliance is likely to raise its spending target to at least 3% of GDP.

NATO has placed troops and equipment in the Baltic region to deter Russia and bolster its ability to defend itself. Germany plans to expand its military deployment to Lithuania to a full brigade of 5,000 soldiers, and Rheinmetall AG is also building an ammunition plant.

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