Reuters: NATO countries agreed on regional defense plans in the event of a Russian attack

NATO allies on July 10 reached an agreement on defense plans detailing how the alliance would respond to a Russian attack.

This was reported by Reuters with reference to five diplomats.

In setting out its regional plans, NATO will provide guidance to countries on how to modernize their forces and logistics.

The need to finance the implementation of this agreement is one of the reasons why leaders intend to increase the Allianceʼs military spending. The current target of 2% of the national GDP would be the minimum requirement.

NATO officials estimate that it will take several years to fully implement the plans, although they stress that the alliance could go into battle immediately if necessary.

Earlier, the adoption of the agreement was blocked by Turkey because of the wording regarding Cyprus.

For decades, NATO saw no need for large-scale defense plans because the alliance felt that post-Soviet Russia no longer posed a real threat.

• In April 2023, it became known that due to the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, the North Atlantic Alliance decided to change its defense concept — now NATO is preparing to defend "every inch" of its land from the first day of the attack. Previously, it was believed that in the event of a Russian invasion, the member states would try to hold out until the allied forces came to their aid and pushed back the invaders. But after Russian atrocities in captured Ukrainian settlements, including Bucha, Irpin, and Mariupol, Poland and the Baltic states "do not want to risk even a short period of Russian occupation." The defense strategy envisages an increase in the number of troops on the Eastern border of the Alliance.