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Lithuania plans to increase defense spending to deter potential threats from Russia after US President-elect Donald Trump called on European allies to increase military funding.
According to Bloomberg, Trump threatened to withdraw from NATO and demanded that members of the military alliance more than double the current defense spending target to the equivalent of 5% of production.
Lithuania is now set to become the first country in the alliance to reach that goal. President Gitanas Nauseda said spending would be increased to 5-6% of gross domestic product starting next year as it funds a new army division to be established by 2030.
The Baltic states and Poland are leading the way in increasing defense spending in Europe after the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, as they border Russia or its ally Belarus. Lithuania has already planned to spend 4% of GDP this year. Nauseda said:
“The possibility of Russian military aggression remains real, but it is not inevitable. We must significantly increase our efforts to strengthen defense, deterrence, and allocate more resources to this end.”
With Trump's inauguration on Monday, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte made it clear that the alliance would likely increase its spending target to at least 3% of GDP.
NATO's activation in countering the Russian Federation
NATO has deployed troops and equipment to the Baltic region to deter Russia and strengthen its ability to defend itself. Germany plans to expand its military deployment in Lithuania to a full brigade of 5000 soldiers, and Rheinmetall AG is also building a munitions factory.
