No free riders! - Hegseth tells all NATO allies to 'translate goals into guns, commitments into capabilities, pledges into power'

No free riders! - Hegseth tells all NATO allies to 'translate goals into guns, commitments into capabilities, pledges into power'

"US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said there would be no 'free riders' in NATO, as he called on all allies to 'translate goals into guns, commitments into capabilities, pledges into power' following the meeting of defence ministers in Brussels on Wednesday. "All countries around this table, no free riders," he said. "I want to commend to allies such as Germany and Poland for their efforts in meeting their five percent commitment, which is being invested in fielding combat credible forces. I could name a lot of other countries as well, the Baltics and Nordics, that have done likewise, and we are grateful." "All countries need to translate goals into guns, commitments into capabilities and pledges into power. That's all that matters. Hard power. It's the only thing belligerents actually respect. Your continued investment and leadership are vital to helping Ukraine defend itself and to bring an end to this conflict," he continued. He also said that the US War Department was "clear-eyed about the fact that the most effective deterrents to Russian aggression are number one, a lethal, capable and European-led NATO, and number two, a combat-credible Ukrainian military able to defend itself and thereby continue to deter Russian aggression along NATO's border." Donald Trump has repeatedly singled out Spain as the only country not committing to the 5% defence spending target, even suggesting it could be kicked out the alliance. Volodymyr Zelensky is in DC on Friday to discuss his demand for US Tomahawks from Trump. The US leader has referred to the missles as a 'new step of aggression' and suggested he would need to talk to Russia first. Moscow has warned of escalation and a negative impact on revitalised Russia-US relations. "