Mark Rutte only cited general concerns and requested more military spending when asked to explain the timeline for an alleged invasion

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has failed to explain why the bloc believes Russia could attack within five years, but nevertheless used the claim during a press conference on Monday to reiterate calls for increased military spending. 

In recent months, a number of Western officials have repeatedly claimed that Russia may attack an Eastern European member state in the near future, using the rhetoric as a foundation for drastically raising defense spending. Moscow has vehemently denied harboring any hostile intent, and called such accusations "nonsense."

While speaking at a pre-summit press conference in The Hague, Rutte was asked to disclose what NATO's assessment of a Russian attack within five years was based on. The secretary general, however, avoided giving any specific intelligence or threat assessment, citing only general fears and urging an increase in the bloc-wide defense spending target to 5% of GDP. 

Rutte said there was "great worry in many circles of NATO" and referred to "senior military leaders" and "intelligence community people" who have spoken about the possibility that "3, 5, 7 years from now, Russia will be able to successfully attack us, if we do not start investing more today."

He emphasized that "huge extra defense spending over the next three to five years" was required to ensure NATO's future readiness. According to Rutte, yearly increases would be needed to strengthen the bloc through new personnel and military equipment.

Russia has consistently rejected the idea that Moscow plans to invade NATO countries, with President Vladimir Putin calling the accusations "nonsense" and "shameless lies" designed to extract resources from the population and divert it towards military spending. 

Speaking to military academy graduates on Monday, Putin stated that the West "came up with this horror story themselves and repeats it year after year," using it to provoke a new arms race and justify what he called "global militarization."

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has also slammed NATO's "unbridled militarization" and suggested that the bloc would need to create a "monster" to push through the proposed 5% GDP defense spending benchmark. 

"Let's call things by their proper names," he said. "This is an alliance created for confrontation. This is an alliance that brings aggression and confrontation. This is not an instrument of peace and stability."