US President urges Europe to increase defense spending

On June 3, speaking at a joint press conference with Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski, US President Barack Obama called on European allies to increase defense spending.

Mr. Obama said that European countries have the responsibility to increase defense spending in the context of new risks of instability in Europe today, especially after Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula into the federal system; in return, the US is committed to ensuring security and stability in the region.

US President Barack Obama speaks at a press conference in Warsaw on June 3. (Source: AFP/VNA)

President Obama also affirmed that strengthening relations and ensuring security for Central and Eastern European member countries of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is one of the "foundations" in the US national security strategy.

However, NATO countries also need to fulfill their "full membership responsibilities"; including ensuring defense spending at a minimum of 2% of GDP.

Previously, President Obama proposed a $1 billion European Reassurance Initiative. Accordingly, the US will increase the deployment of troops and weapons and equipment to Eastern European countries, including non-NATO countries such as Ukraine and Georgia, to help these countries improve their defense capabilities.

Analysts say that during this trip to Europe, US President Obama faces many major challenges, including helping to stabilize the situation in Ukraine.

Mr. Obama will meet with newly elected President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko on June 4 amid increasing violence in the east of the country.

Hopes for a bilateral meeting between Russia and the US are pinned on the 70th anniversary of the Allied landings in Normandy (France) on June 6 when both Mr. Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin will attend.

Although both the Kremlin and the White House have said there is no agenda for a formal bilateral meeting between Obama and Putin on the sidelines of the event, a brief, informal exchange between the two leaders is possible as the US President is actively calling on Moscow to hold dialogue with Ukrainian President-elect Petro Poroshenko.

Meanwhile, Russia has also just decided to continue supplying gas to Ukraine - a sign of cooling down in the current Russia-Ukraine gas crisis.

President Obama is currently on a five-day trip to Poland, Belgium and France to discuss with European leaders joint efforts to support the newly elected government in Ukraine; strengthen and consolidate NATO; seek to diversify Europe's energy supplies; and continue to promote the negotiation process on the US-European Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP)./.

According to VNA