Nato can't defend Europe from Russia without US, say alliance's frontline leaders

Nato is "not ready" to fight against Vladimir Putin's Russia without the US, the leaders of the alliance's three frontline states have told The Independent, as they called on allies to drastically increase defence spending.

- TOM WATLING, MILLIE COOKE

In the wake of Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential election, the leaders of Latvia, Estonia and Finland have urged the alliance to stop “endlessly debating” how to cope with the looming threat of Russia, saying it is time to bolster Europe’s defences.

“We are not ready. That’s absolutely clear,” said Latvian president Edgars Rinkevics. “We can’t keep simply hoping for a situation where the US remains much involved in Europe.”

“We have to ramp up our defence capabilities,” Estonian prime minister Kristen Michal added, “because of Russia’s threat, and its inability to be a democracy and operate in a rule-based world”.

The three countries are the only Nato members that border Russia, a frontier that runs for 1,200 miles from the northern tip of Finland down to the southeastern corner of Latvia, which also borders Belarus, a vassal state of Mr Putin that was used by Moscow as a staging post in the invasion of Ukraine. Finland, Estonia and Latvia are also among Nato’s biggest spenders on defence relative to their gross domestic product (GDP).

Nato requires its member states to spend at least 2 per cent of its GDP on defence, but before this year only a third of countries were fulfilling this. That figure has risen to two-thirds of Nato members but experts still caution that spending is too low. Russia is projected to spend 6.3 per cent of its GDP on defence by the first quarter of 2025.