Rutte called on NATO to develop the defense industry amid Russia's successes

NATO needs to develop the defense industry against the background of Russia's great success in this area. This was announced on May 15 by Secretary General Mark Rutte during an informal meeting of the allied foreign ministers in Turkey, which was broadcast on the alliance's website.

"We are also discussing defense industrial production. We need to build up military capabilities throughout NATO. And especially if we look at Russia, they are so successful at this, and we must surpass them when it comes to defense industrial production," the Secretary General noted.

According to Rutte, the alliance must be sure that it spends enough funding in order to "protect itself", as well as to understand the necessary means of providing defense.

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On April 4, Rutte said that Europe and Canada should take more responsibility for common defense and increase defense spending. Rutte added that all the countries of the bloc have declared their intention to manufacture more weapons and increase the pace of military production.

The head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said on March 11 that the EU's defense industry was lagging far behind Russia's, so militarization needed to be accelerated. She stressed that EU countries should spend more than 3% of GDP on defense spending.