EU defense commissioner warns Russian military spending nears European levels

EU defense commissioner Andrius Kubilius warned on Tuesday that Russian military spending next year will nearly match Europe's combined defense spending in purchasing power parity terms.

"Russian military potential is not diminishing," Kubilius warned during a panel discussion at the Berlin Security Conference. "If you calculate in purchasing power parity terms, Russia is ready to spend almost the same amount that we Europeans are going to spend next year, around €500 billion ($559 billion)."

While stressing the need to strengthen the European pillar within NATO, Kubilius underlined that Europeans must invest in areas where they face capability gaps as the US administration shifts its priorities toward the Indo-Pacific.

"Americans will pay more and more attention towards the Indo-Pacific region. And that is what we need to have in mind when we are talking about what capabilities we need to develop here on the European continent," he said.

Kubilius reiterated that the EU's plans to strengthen its defense capabilities are not an alternative to NATO.

"There really is no competition between the European Union and NATO," he said. "NATO is a military might, EU is an economic power. And our task is how to combine these two strengths into European defense capabilities which should deter Russia," he added.