The head of NATO says member states must spend more on the military.

Live from the UK, this is the Marketplace Morning Report from the BBC World Service.

I'm Gideon Long, standing in for Leanna Byrne.

Good morning.

The head of the Western Military Alliance NATO has said member countries must spend more on defence.

At a meeting in Brussels, Mark Router told the BBC that the current commitment... military alliance NATO has said member countries must spend more on defence.

At a meeting in Brussels, Mark Ruta told the BBC that the current commitment that means each NATO country has to spend at least 2% of its national wealth on the military just

wasn't good enough.

Overall, as a defence alliance, you can never get there with 2%.

You need considerably more. when you talk about,

for example, long-range weapons, logistics, when you talk about air defense and so many other

systems we need to put in place. And of course, the latest technology. So it is simply not enough.

But I want to consult more with allies before we commit to a new number. But it has to be

considerably higher than this 2%. It's not easy because you have your health spending and you're spending on social

security and pensions, but overall we spend about 25% of our national incomes on those items.

And rightly so. And we need only a fraction of that 25% to considerably up the defense spending.

And my plea here is if you have children, grandchildren, if you think our way of life should be

preserved, the democracy, our values, then we have to prioritize defense.

And if we don't, in four or five years, we are a real difficulty.

He also said NATO members should shift to a wartime mindset and shouldn't underestimate the threat

from Russia's Vladimir Putin.

He did roll his tanks into Ukraine.

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