Rutte: NATO has money, but not enough weapons — warns Moscow over Kaliningrad

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has stated that there is currently no immediate Russian threat to Alliance territory and that NATO’s assessment has not changed in recent weeks, as Panoptikum reports from the Euronews defence and space summit in Brussels. Rutte stressed that the Alliance has plans, a command structure and readiness to react, and that it will defend its territory if attacked, relying on the collective defence system of its 32 member countries.

His message to Moscow, according to Panoptikum’s reporting, is that NATO sees itself as a defensive alliance, but any aggression against a member country would be met with a collective response. Rutte’s statements came after a Russian warning — in a document seen by Reuters — that Moscow could use its nuclear arsenal if NATO tried to cut off Kaliningrad, the Russian exclave between Poland and Lithuania. Rutte declined to reveal the exact content of the Russian communication, but confirmed that the Alliance responded and called on Moscow to stop the nuclear threats, adding that Russia “cannot defeat NATO”.

But the core of his speech, as Panoptikum reports, is industrial: money for defence is growing, but weapons are not produced overnight. Asked whether European countries should buy European or American weapons, Rutte said the real question now is whether there is enough to buy. Europe’s defence industrial base is underdeveloped relative to demand, and even the United States must significantly increase production; the “European or American” debate is almost a luxury when neither Europe nor the U.S. produces enough.

The article cites concrete examples: air and missile defence — the European SAMP/T system with Aster-30 missiles versus the American Patriot system — where neither industry produces fast enough for current demand. After the Cold War, many European countries cut their armies and ammunition stockpiles, while the war in Ukraine, replenishment needs and higher spending targets are putting manufacturers under pressure; security policy is becoming industrial policy — new factories, long-term contracts, a skilled workforce, supply chains.

There is also a North Macedonia angle: as a NATO member country, it is part of the same collective defence system and of the broader process of increasing defence spending and modernising the armed forces. For small members without a large defence industry, delivery deadlines, prices and access to production lines can matter as much as budget money — and the new European defence policy may open the question of whether small economies can join parts of European supply chains through mechanical industry, electronics, software, maintenance or logistics.