Polish President Andrzej Duda speaks to members of the media following a meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden at the White House on March 12, 2024 in Washington, DC.
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Polish President Andrzej Duda said Monday that NATO must urgently increase its defense spending to ensure it does not become the next target of a Russian attack.
Speaking to CNBC, Duda reiterated his calls for NATO members to increase their military contributions to 3% amid new reports that Moscow could be readying to target the military alliance within two to three years.
Citing unspecified German research, Duda said new evidence suggested that Russian President Vladimir Putin is doubling down on his shift toward a war economy with a view to attacking NATO in 2026 or 2027. It follows Danish intelligence reports from February which suggested that Moscow could launch an attack on NATO within three to five years. CNBC was unable to verify the contents of either report.
“The alarm bells are ringing,” he told CNBC’s Steve Sedgwick, according to a translation.
Duda said it was therefore more critical than ever to ramp up the alliance’s military investment, describing his increased spending targets as “common sense.”
“We have two or three years in which we can increase our efforts, stockpile ammunition and produce weapons to maximize European security, get ready and make sure the invasion does not happen,” he said.
“All this needs to be done in order not to have to get involved in a fight. The point is to create such a deterrent that ensures we are not attacked. This is the whole point because none of us want war,” he added.
The Polish president, whose country shares a land border with Ukraine, has spearheaded calls to supply weapons to Kyiv since the onset of Russia’s full-scale invasion.
Poland has also bolstered its own military capabilities, ramping up its defense spending in 2023 to almost 4% of gross domestic product (GDP) — ahead of even the U.S. in percentage terms.
During a…
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