According to the British newspaper The Telegraph, the UK, France, Spain, Italy and Canada have blocked Mark Rutte’s initiative to make it mandatory for alliance member states to allocate 0.25 percent of their GDP to support Ukraine.
According to the newspaper, the NATO secretary-general had hoped to get the initiative approved at the upcoming alliance summit in Ankara, but admitted that it would not be possible to implement it due to the lack of unanimous support.
NATO ‘seastern flank more active
At the same time, a number of countries are already spending at least 0.25% of GDP on assistance to Ukraine and support Rutte’s proposal. Among them are the Netherlands, Poland, as well as the Baltic and Nordic countries.
The countries on NATO’s eastern flank remain among the most active supporters of expanding support for Kiev.
According to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, which tracks international aid to Ukraine, some countries have already exceeded the level of spending proposed by Rutte.
The NATO secretary general himself has repeatedly emphasized that support for Ukraine within the alliance is distributed very unevenly. Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson also expressed a similar position.
“I would very much like more countries that speak so well about Ukraine to back up their words with real money,” the Latvian portal bb.lv quoted the Swedish prime minister as saying, citing The Telegraph.
The discussion around the new funding mechanism shows that NATO still has different approaches to the scale and form of long-term support for Ukraine.
At the same time, Eastern and Northern European countries continue to increase pressure on the allies to increase aid to Kiev.
