NATO Secretary General says transition to a wartime mindset is necessary

North Atlantic Alliance Secretary General Mark Rutte said on January 15 that the alliance now needs to shift to a wartime mindset.

According to him, there are now a large number of different dangers in the world, such as terrorism, nuclear proliferation, as well as disinformation and climate change. He pointed out that to address these challenges, NATO allies have recently increased investments in defense, noting that military exercises have also become more frequent.

"This is all necessary, but it is not enough to deal with the dangers that are coming in the next four or five years. <...> To prevent conflict, we need to prepare for it. It is time to switch to a wartime way of thinking," Rutte said at a NATO military committee meeting.

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Earlier, on January 10, Reuters learned about NATO's disapproval of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's plan to increase the alliance's spending. At the same time, some officials, whose names are not mentioned, although they do not support the initiative of the American politician, but in general are in favor of increasing defense spending.

On December 20, 2024, the Financial Times reported that the new US president will require NATO member states to increase defense spending to 5% of GDP and plans to continue providing military aid to Ukraine.