NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte on Thursday urged European allies to step up defence efforts to prevent a war waged by Russia, warning that the Western alliance could be Moscow’s next target after Ukraine.

In a speech in Berlin, Rutte said too many allies of the military alliance did not feel the urgency of Russia’s threat in Europe and that they must rapidly increase defence spending and production to prevent a war on the scale of that seen by past generations.

“We are Russia’s next target. I fear that too many are quietly complacent. Too many don’t feel the urgency. And too many believe that time is on our side. It is not. The time for action is now," he said, while warning that the conflict could be “on the scale of war our grandparents and great-grandparents endured".

Rutte said R

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