Die Welt spoke about NATO's demand to increase the number of German military personnel

The NATO leadership insists on increasing the number of German military personnel to 240-260 thousand people. This was announced on Saturday, May 17, according to the German newspaper Die Welt.

"The Western Alliance is putting pressure on the German Ministry of Defense. <...> The number of soldiers should increase by 60-80 thousand compared to the previously planned. However, German security experts fear that they will not be able to achieve even their own growth targets," the article says.

One of the topics of the NATO summit, which will be held in The Hague at the end of June, will be the number of alliance troops, the newspaper believes. At the same time, the newspaper emphasizes that there is no official confirmation of this information.

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In January, US President Donald Trump announced that he would seek to ensure that the member states of the North Atlantic Treaty increased defense spending to 5% of GDP, and also spent more than Washington on supporting Ukraine.

In turn, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte held a telephone conversation with Pentagon Chief Pete Hegseth, following which he promised to increase the alliance's defense spending.