Russia’s representative to NATO: Russia concerned about increase in U.S. military budget
Russia is concerned about the increase in military spending by Donald Trump’s administration within NATO by 40% in 2018, Russia's permanent representative to the alliance Alexander Grushko said on the television station Rossiya 24.
“What worries us right now is that the Trump administration asked for $4.8 billion for next year for the so-called Allied Reassurance Initiative. This year, the funding amounted to $3.7 billion. This means a 40 percent increase,” he said.
According to Grushko, this also means that “the United States can add more forces in Europe, maybe another brigade, which is constantly being talked about in the Pentagon.” For this reason, the representative stated, Russia is closely monitoring the situation “on the ground” and is taking all the necessary measures to ensure its own security.
At the same time, Grushko noted that the joining of the North Atlantic Alliance to the Coalition to Defeat ISIS “will accomplish little,” since all of the NATO countries are, in one way or another, already participants. “An action plan was approved that provides that the alliance as an organization will join the Coalition to Defeat ISIS led by the United States. From the point of view of the added cost, this step will accomplish little, because all countries - I emphasize, all the countries of the alliance - are participants in this very coalition,” he said.
Earlier, on May 25th, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced NATO’s decision to join the coalition led by the United States, which is conducting an operation against ISIS terrorists in Syria and Iraq. He made this statement while speaking at a press conference after the summit in Brussels.
Until now, NATO as an organization has not been a member of the coalition, but assisted it on a partnership basis. The alliance conducts regular reconnaissance flights of AWACS aircraft along the Syrian border with Turkey and along the coast, but without entering Syrian airspace. NATO is also training officers for the Iraqi army.