January 24, 2026

Athens News

News in English from Greece

Rutte: Prepare for war – we are Russia’s next target


With a sharp and dramatic tone general secretary NATO Mark Rutte described Russia as an immediate threat to Europe, declaring that “we are its next target.” This statement was made during his speech in Berlinwhere he called on allies to urgently strengthen their defense efforts.

According to Rutte, many members of the alliance are still “they don’t feel the urgency of the moment” and underestimate the scale of the threat. He noted that Europe needs to immediately increase defense spending and increase military production in order to prevent a conflict on the scale of the wars experienced “our grandfathers and great-grandfathers”.

“War is on the threshold”

We are Russia’s next target. Too many are complacent. Too many people mistakenly believe that time is on our side. No. Now is the time to act“, he emphasized.

Rutte added that the conflict “is on the threshold” and Russia “brought the war back to the European continent.” According to him, Moscow may be ready to use force against NATO over the next five years.

The Secretary General also stated that Vladimir Putin trying “recreate the empire”and without support China Russia “could not fight the current war”. Rutte’s speech describes China as “The Kremlin’s lifeline”ensuring the economic and technological sustainability of the Russian military campaign.

According to Rutte, Western societies and some political elites still underestimate the threat and mistakenly believe that time is on the West’s side. “This is a fallacy“,” he said, recalling that the lack of decisive action could lead to a large-scale security crisis throughout the European continent.

Editor’s note

Despite tragic notes in Mark Rutte’s voicethe real picture is much more prosaic. Such alarmist forecasts about a “war in five years” more often serve as preparation for increase in military budgetsthan reflect the actual risk of immediate conflict. European states are already facing questions about where previous defense billions went, and now they need new dramatic rationale for procurement.

In other words, when the public is told “get ready for war”most often they mean only one thing: get your wallets ready. Such rhetoric works much better for financing defense contracts than for real security.



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