Russian Foreign Minister Serghei Lavrov, photographed with President Vladimir Putin at a meeting in June 2025, photo: Alexander Kazakov / Zuma Press / Profimedia Images
The head of Russian Diplomacy Sergei Lavrov said Monday that Moscow plans to reduce his defense expenses and that in his opinion a decision of NATO to increase the defense expenses will eventually lead to the Alliance's collapse, informs the AGERPRES Agency.
NATO member leaders last Wednesday supported a significant increase in defense expenses, at the urging of US President Donald Trump, and said that their countries are united to defend each other against what they present as a threat from Russia.
Asked about the statements of the Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski, who said that a race of arming between Russia and the West could speed up the collapse of Russian President Vladimir Putin, as with the Soviet Union, Lavrov said he believes that NATO could collapse.
“Since he (Sikorski) is such a predictor, he probably provides that a catastrophic increase (of defense expenses) in the budget of NATO countries, according to my estimates, will also lead to the collapse of the organization,” Lavrov said.
Vladimir Putin spoke of the decrease of Russia's military spending
Ever since he launched the large-scale invasion against Ukraine in 2022, after eight years of separatist struggles in the east of this country, Russia has denied the statements of the West that one day will attack a NATO member, a step that would take, according to Russia and the US, to the Third World War.
Vladimir Putin said last Friday that Russia is looking to cut its military expenses starting next year.
Russia increased the expenses for its national defense by a quarter in 2025, up to 6.3% of its gross domestic product (GDP), the highest level since the Cold War.
Currently, Russia's defense expenses amount to 32% of the total budgetary expenses for 2025.
