NATO's 30 leaders will hold a final summit session, focused on the south, on Thursday morning, after almost two days of talks dominated by Russia's war in Ukraine. "If it were necessary and if it posed a threat to our security, we would do it," he told local radio station RNE. The alliance branded Moscow the biggest "direct threat" to Western security on Wednesday at the summit and agreed plans to modernise Kyiv's beleaguered armed forces. "The government is committed to raising our defence budget to close to 2% of GDP by 2029," he told national TV station TVE. All NATO member countries committed in 2014 to move towards spending on defence the equivalent of 2% of GDP by 2024.

Source: The North Africa Journal June 30, 2022 08:51 UTC