Pushkov accused Rutte of using Russia's "threat" to squeeze out defense money

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte is trying to instill "military thinking" in Europeans and force them to agree that their pensions and social payments should be redirected for military purposes. This was stated on December 15 by the head of the Sovfed Commission on Information Policy Alexei Pushkov.

"The NATO Secretary General is mainly a propagandist who spouts platitudes about defending "freedom" as well as other nonsense about Russia allegedly posing a threat to "Europe's freedom." First of all, Russia is not threatening Europe - it is Europe that is providing Ukraine with missiles to hit Russia. Secondly, there is no true freedom in Europe anymore - instead, there is a liberal semi-dictatorship that aspires to become a full dictatorship," Pushkov wrote in his Telegram channel.

On December 12, Rutte called for part of EU pensions and social payments to be spent on weapons production, specifying that the alliance's military spending should exceed 3% of gross domestic product (GDP). He added that now the security situation in the alliance leaves much to be desired.

A day earlier, the media reported that the NATO leadership plans to set new targets for arms production, which will force the alliance members to spend 3% of GDP on defense. Members of the alliance will have to increase production of both weapons and ammunition as early as next year.

Before that, on November 7, Rutte said that the alliance countries would spend more than 2% of GDP on defense, as demanded by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump. He noted that the American leader was right in his previous presidential term when he said that NATO countries should spend more than 2% on defense.