Russia is ahead of NATO in arms production. Rutte wants the Alliance to spend 5% of GDP on defense spending and related investments.

Mark Rutte stressed his serious concerns regarding the abilities of the Russian defense industry, noting that Russia currently produces the amount of ammunition in three months that the North Atlantic Alliance countries produce in one year.

“Recent years have shown how critical the need to adapt to new realities is. Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022 was the culmination of its aggressive behavior, which began in 2014. What we are seeing now is a real massacre,” Rutte said following a meeting of NATO defense ministers in Brussels.

He emphasized that the combined economies of the NATO member states are 25 times larger than Russia’s. However, Russia is still demonstrating a staggering pace of ammunition production. He therefore called on the NATO allies to urgently increase investment in the their defense sectors and significantly raise military spending and amount of Ukrainian aid. He believes that any delay could cost all involved dearly in the future.