Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte. Following the press conference, the webcast will be available on the Swedish government website, government.se.
Please, Mark, thank you.
Okay, Secretary Rutte, dear Mark, welcome to Sweden. Welcome to Stockholm. Really happy to see you here. If you don't mind, I will just give a few remarks in Swedish due to last night's events in the Middle East.
Mark and I just had a productive meeting ahead of the upcoming NATO summit, as you realize. Exciting times in so many ways, important times as well. And during our discussion, I shared a few Swedish key priorities ahead of this summit. First, a united alliance is a strong alliance. Extremely important to stress that in these challenging times, we need to stand together. And I'm very impressed by Mark Rutte's enormous efforts to build this unity ahead of the summit.
Second, this is the moment where Europe must take greater responsibility for our own defense. Sweden is a leading country in that. We want the summit to manifest strongly increased European ambitions and to set a new ambitious goal for defense spending. A few months ago, as you know, the Swedish government announced our own plans for Sweden to make the biggest military buildup since the early days of the Cold War. That is a significant step for Sweden. And today I'd like to confirm that Sweden will reach a new NATO spending target of 5% of GDP, where at least 3.5% of GDP will be allocated towards core defense requirements to fulfill NATO's new capability targets. That is a Swedish decision, and of course we will formalize that again after the NATO summit in The Hague.
My government has already announced the increase to 3.5% of GDP, and we did that because we realize that regardless of the NATO summit decision, we are in a specific geographical situation where we need to meet the future threats from Russia. And the backdrop is, of course, the war of aggression against Ukraine, but also the fact that we know Russia since very, very many years. Russia is the threat to Ukraine, but not only to Ukraine, but to all European countries and to the alliance. And I think there is a growing sense of urgency. I think that will be reflected also in Mark Rutte's comments among allies that more countries need to do the same thing right now.
Third, supporting Ukraine's right to self-defense against Russia strengthens the security across the Euro-Atlantic area. It also defends the rules-based world order, which benefits people all over the world. I think Sweden's entry into NATO slightly more than one year ago meant that we bring geography and we bring capacity to the alliance. And in terms of geography, I normally say just look at the map. Sweden is one of the largest European countries in NATO in terms of pure size, and we have the longest Baltic Sea coastline. And our historic experience in naval operations in the Baltic Sea is unmatched by any other nation on the sea, under the surface, and in the air.
Regarding Russia, we see increased activity, including Russia allocating more resources than usual to the Baltic Sea right now. We also see that our targeting of the shadow fleet is affecting Russia's economy and diminishing its resources. And together with allies, we will continue and, if needed, ramp up our activities in the Baltic Sea. Now, we stand ready as a basing and staging area for Allied reinforcements. This will strengthen NATO's ability to carry out operations in Northern Europe, in the Baltic Sea, and to reinforce the Eastern flank, thereby strengthening the alliance as a whole.
Which brings me to our capabilities. I won't bore you with details, but we joined NATO last year as a net security provider to the alliance, bringing some important national strengths across air, land, surface, subsurface, cyberspace, and space domains. For us, all these are kept together. Our advanced defense and space industries, combined with some of Europe's strongest cyber and intelligence capabilities, enhance the alliance's capabilities. And since joining NATO, finally, and I won't brag now, but I just want to mention them: we have deployed hundreds of soldiers to NATO's multinational brigade in Latvia. We have sent Swedish fighter jets to NATO's air policing mission, helping to secure allied airspace. We have provided Gripen fighters to operate in Polish airspace to protect the logistics for providing Ukraine with material, and we have contributed naval forces to NATO's mine sweeping units and to NATO's enhanced presence at the Baltic Sentry, increasing situational awareness and improving NATO's ability to respond to destabilizing acts in the Baltic Sea. Obviously, very necessary activities right now, and we are taking on the responsibility as a framework nation for NATO's enhanced forward presence in Finland. That is what we are trying to do right now.
Finally, given the serious security situation right now, Sweden is entering a new phase of investment, building our country stronger through historic commitments to defense, to defense industry, to infrastructure, research, and energy systems. And we do this at a scale we haven't seen for decades. Obviously, we do this in a very serious situation. We do it because we need to do it. But we also think this is an investment that will bring security to Sweden, but also bring prosperity to Sweden. Thank you so much for being here, Mark. Please.
Thank you, Ulf. And thank you for welcoming me to Sweden. It's always a pleasure to see you and to be back in beautiful Stockholm. And this is my first visit here as NATO Secretary General, and it is an honor to be here with our newest ally. Sweden has only been a member of our alliance for now 15 months, but you are already making major contributions across the alliance. Your forces strengthen our posture in the high north and in the Baltic region. As you said, you contribute to forward land forces in Latvia, and you will lead NATO's newly established forward land forces in Finland. Indeed, your Gripen fighter jets help patrol the skies over Poland, and your ships contribute to our enhanced military presence in the Baltic Sea through Baltic Sentry. Sweden is also one of NATO's seven Arctic allies, and your expertise in the region has enhanced our posture in the high north and strengthens our ability to reinforce our Baltic allies.
Last week in Brussels, NATO defense ministers agreed on an ambitious new set of capability targets. These targets describe what capabilities allies need to invest in over the coming years, from our air defense and fighter jets to tanks, drones, logistics, and of course personnel. And this is what it takes to keep our 1 billion citizens safe and to keep our deterrence and defense strong against a rapidly reconstituting Russia. So these targets, these capability targets, are the foundation for a new defense investment plan, a key priority which we will take forward during the NATO summit in The Hague.
Last year, Sweden invested already 2.66% of your GDP on defense, and indeed I welcome your government's strong determination to go much and much further. This is a clear demonstration of Sweden's commitment to collective defense. Boosting defense industrial production is another key priority for the summit in The Hague, and Sweden also here is playing a leading role because you have a world-class defense sector with companies like Saab, the leading supplier to the Swedish armed forces, and Volvo Defense. Sweden is helping to drive forward the modernization and resilience of our collective NATO defense industry. Sweden is also a hub of advanced research on defense industrial capabilities.
Sweden is a strong supporter of Ukraine. Since 2022, you have provided over 7 billion euros in military assistance to Ukraine, including 1.25 billion in the first four months of this year alone. In terms of GDP, this places Sweden among the top contributors to Ukraine, and I also welcome your investment in Ukrainian defense industry. You are truly leading by example. We are now less than two weeks away from the NATO summit in The Hague, and there I expect leaders to make bold decisions to further strengthen our deterrence and defense, including agreeing a new defense investment plan that would bring our defense investment to 5% of GDP over the next several years. This will ensure that allies have the forces, the capabilities, and also the industrial base required to meet the challenges of today and tomorrow. So, dear Ulf, thank you once again for your hospitality, your leadership, and your commitment to our transatlantic alliance. Thank you so much.
Thank you so much, Mark. Thank you so much, and please, the floor is open. We'll start with a question from TT over here.
Thank you very much. I would like to ask the Secretary General and also the Prime Minister: could you elaborate regarding the situation in the Middle East with Israel and Iran? You say that this could escalate. How? And also, what should the international community do right now in order to de-escalate the tensions?
Well, it is obviously a rapidly evolving situation. And this was a unilateral action by Israel. So I think it is crucial for many allies, including the United States, to work as we speak to de-escalate. I know they're doing that. And I think that is now the first order of the day.
I mean, to state the obvious, this could escalate. That's quite obvious. It could also de-escalate, depends on what's going to happen in the coming hours and days. And that's why I just said that basically we don't need an escalation in a region which is already so heated in so many ways, for the regional reasons of course, but also for the risk of spreading problems around the world. So we call for de-escalation, but obviously it is the countries in the region that make their own decisions on that.
Former Swedish PM Carl Bildt calls this an ongoing war right now. Do you agree with him? Ongoing war, with the latest attack.
Well, I mean, we have seen the warnings have been there. The risk for nuclear armament in Iran has been a big problem for many countries since long. There are reasons behind these negotiations that have been on and off for quite some time. So we take those threats seriously, very much so. If they were to develop nuclear arms, that would be a threat not only for that region but for many, many more countries. So we take it very seriously, but the answer should be to de-escalate and get back to the negotiation table.
All right, we'll do the next question from SVT.
Thank you. A question to you both. First, Mr. Secretary General, Sweden has recently seen a wave of suspected cyber attacks. What is your view? Was this expected when Sweden became a NATO country? And what can NATO do to defend and deter member countries against these kinds of cyber attacks? And Mr. Prime Minister, could you elaborate in Swedish on the Swedish GDP goal that you told us about?
Yes. And on the cyber attacks, of course these are a fact at the moment that they take place, and they are part of the hybrid threats NATO is facing, and cyber attacks, but of course also in some cases even the jamming of commercial airplanes in the Baltic region. So we see many versions of these hybrid threats, and the cyber attacks are of course a big worry. It's impossible for me to assess whether there is a direct link between these attacks and now Sweden being a member of NATO. Of course, Sweden always had an impressive defense industrial base and an impressive defense system itself. So I guess also in the past our adversaries would also have an interest in Sweden even before you joined NATO. But what we have to do collectively, and this is what NATO is getting better and better at, is to make sure generally when it comes to these hybrid threats, to make sure that we collectively assess what is happening, that we collectively decide on what is the best way to protect ourselves. Of course, we are not going to make our adversaries any wiser by going into all the details, but you can be assured that we navigate this very closely together, and that Sweden plays a big role there.
May I just add on to that? I think the new thing is not Russian interest in trying to affect Sweden in a negative way and to do hostile things in the Baltic Sea. The new thing is our ability to defend ourselves collectively. That's the new thing, and I think the Baltic Sentry has proven that in a very important way. All the Baltic Sea countries are joining efforts together to counter what we obviously have to see as potential threats from Russia.
