Boosting the number of high-readiness combat troops to 300,000 from 40,000 is primarily designed to protect NATO’s eastern flank, specifically the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania
. The dramatic increase borrows from the alliance’s old Cold War strategy of being capable of repelling a potential Soviet invasion.
Prime Minister Kaja Kallas told reporters last week that her country would be “wiped off the map” under current NATO plans to defend Estonia against a Russian attack. Ahead of the Madrid summit, she was lobbying NATO for a full division – about 20,000 soldiers – to be allocated to each of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, Mr. Stoltenberg has said repeatedly that NATO’s job is to defend “every inch” of its members’ territory. Canada is near the back of the pack, with its estimated spending for 2022 at 1.27 per cent of GDP, up from about 1 per cent in 2014. Only Slovenia, Turkey, Belgium, Spain and Luxembourg spend less in relative terms. The biggest spenders are Greece, the United States, Poland, Lithuania and Estonia. “Two per cent is increasingly considered a floor, not a ceiling,” Mr. Stoltenberg said. “We will also agree to invest more together in NATO.
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