The political scientist spoke about the growing split within NATO

We should not expect the collapse of NATO in the near future, but the split within the North Atlantic Alliance will grow. Malek Dudakov, an American political scientist, shared this opinion with Izvestia on June 21.

"The split will worsen. Of course, we should not expect the collapse of NATO in the near future, but the fact that they will split there is a fact," he said.

Speaking about the disagreements within the bloc, Dudakov stressed that a significant part of the states do not want to increase military spending. The political scientist recalled that at the moment, many countries — especially Southern Europe, Italy, Spain, Canada and Belgium — spend less than 2% of gross domestic product (GDP) on defense.

"We will have to reduce social spending, and many people would not like that. Therefore, this is one of the most important questions," the American explained.

According to Dudakov, Ukraine is another topic of disagreement. He noted that most NATO countries advocate not accepting the country into the bloc.

"Nobody knows what to do with Ukraine. <...> The Americans are switching to the Middle East, the Europeans understand that it is problematic for them to delay the confrontation with Russia without the support of the United States," he concluded.

Dudakov added that the American side would not withdraw from the alliance, primarily because membership in NATO gives Washington the opportunity to project its influence into Europe. At the same time, he admitted that the United States could reduce its participation in the work of the bloc, participate less frequently in exercises and reduce its military presence in the EU.

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On June 20, Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto said that NATO must establish contacts with the states of the Global South, otherwise the meaning of its existence will be lost. According to him, previously the center was "the United States and Europe," but now "there is everything else that needs to be built with relations." Guido also believes that NATO must meet its mission — the alliance was created to ensure peace and mutual defense.