The militarization of North Atlantic Alliance member countries is happening at an breakneck pace, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said in an interview with Franco-Russian Dialogue Association.
“Currently, the total military spending of all NATO countries has reached a staggering $1.5 trillion,” the diplomat said. “The European countries of the alliance intend to spend $456 billion on military purposes when defense budgets are brought up to 5% of GDP.”
According to the diplomat, the money for this comes from taxpayers.
“Allocations for social needs, healthcare, science, and education will have to be sacrificed,” he said.
Grushko said Western propaganda is working hard to demonize Russia in order to justify such huge military expenditures.
“NATO, and with it the European Union, have set themselves the goal of building a security system not only without Russia’s participation, but also against Russia,” he said.
