Amid Russia's 'direct threats,' NATO confronts a changing world

NATO is adapting to a changing world, US President Joe Biden said on Thursday on the last day of a summit of the alliance's leaders in Madrid.

"The direct threats ... Russia poses [to] Europe, and the systemic challenges that China poses to a rules-based world order" are driving this change, Biden said in a press conference.

Alliance leaders agreed to invite Sweden and Finland to join NATO in the three days of talks at the Spanish capital after weeks of opposition from Turkey.

NATO also decided to move up to 300,000 troops to high alert to reinforce Eastern European members and adopted a new security doctrine that brands Russia a threat and declares China's "coercive policies" as a challenge to NATO's "interests, security and values."

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenebrg also said the alliance agreed a "significant, conisderable increase in NATO's common funded budget" for 2030 but did not provide further details in his closing press conference.

NATO sources later told dpa that this amounted to an extra €20 billion ($21 billion) in joint spending by 2030, a major annual increase in alliance budgets.

The alliance did not make the spending public at the leaders' summit in Madrid over French objections, NATO sources informed dpa.

Paris has long objected to spending increases and only backed the investment on the basis the details would not be communicated until later, NATO sources said.

The additional funds are to facilitate increased investments to move equipment to the alliance's members in Eastern Europe after a summit decision to ramp up defences in the region.

In addition, there should also be more funds for exercises and cybersecurity, for example, as well as the promotion of partnerships with friendly countries outside of the alliance, NATO sources said.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz struck a similar chord as Biden when he said Russia is "threatening the international order" in his concluding remarks at the summit.

NATO as a result is strengthening its defence capabilities, Scholz said, "especially in view of the security of the alliance's members on the eastern flank," referring to countries bordering Russia.

French President Emmanuel Macron meanwhile stressed the importance of keeping communication lines open with Russian President Putin despite criticism of the practise.

Announcing another weapons packet to Ukraine worth more than $800 million (€765 million), Biden said the US is "going to stick with Ukraine and all of the alliance [will] stick with Ukraine as long as it takes to in fact make sure that they are not defeated [by Russia]."

Biden also reaffirmed in Madrid that the US "will defend every inch of NATO territory," citing the new permanent headquarters of the US Fifth Army corps in Poland as an example.

On the last day of a leaders' summit dedicated to the threat of terrorism, leaders also addressed the issue of defence investment among allies.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson called on NATO allies to increase defence spending to 2.5% of gross democratic product (GDP) by 2030.

The spending boost is needed as a previous 2% target is from "a different era" before the Russian war in Ukraine, Johnson said in a press conference.

Biden singled out Germany's €100-billion plan to increase spending in his wide praise for the increasing defence investments of some allies.

"A majority of them are on track for the first time to exceed our 2% of GDP commitment," Biden said, referring to NATO's guidelines for allies to spend 2% of their GDP on defence.

The spending guidelines have been a sore point for many years for the US with Germany, one of the alliance's most wealthy members, especially under criticism in the past.