![Pinterest](https://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=https://uknews.evprotec.com/rishi-sunak-urged-to-raise-defence-spending-by-estonia/&media=https://uknews.evprotec.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/127389510_gettyimages-1369367517-1.jpg&description=Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Members of the Estonian army have conducted military training together with UK soldiersPrime Minister Rishi Sunak is being urged to raise UK defence spending by a key eastern European ally.Estonia, which borders Russia, has hosted British troops on rotation for years. Its foreign minister Urmas Reinsalu told the BBC it was "vital" all Nato countries spend 3% of gross domestic product (GDP) on defence. Mr Sunak has not matched a pledge, set by predecessor Liz Truss, to meet that target by 2030.The new prime minister, who replaced Ms Truss in Downing Street this week, has previously described such targets as "arbitrary". However, he also said he believed in "investing in our armed forces" during his campaign to be Tory leader over the summer. The UK currently spends just over 2% of GDP - a measure of the size of the economy - a year on defence. Asked whether countries in the Nato defensive alliance, including the UK, should aim to spend 3% of GDP on defence, Mr Reinsalu replied: "Absolutely."He described Russia's invasion of Ukraine as a "game-changer"."Autocrats are investing in weapons," he told the BBC. "They believe in [the] power of arms." Nato estimates Estonia, which shares a 183-mile border with Russia and has a population of 1.3 million people, will spend 2.3% of its GDP on defence in 2022. Estonian ministers say they will raise this to 3% by 2024. Nato countries committed in 2014 to spend at least 2% of GDP on defence by 2024. Only nine members expected to meet that target this year."To defend our values - the rules based order - we need also to invest to the weapons," Mr Reinsalu said.He also urged Britain not to cut troop numbers in Estonia, saying: "We love UK soldiers" and "we want more". Image caption, Urmas Reinsalu has been Estonia's foreign affairs minister since JulyA UK-led battlegroup has been based in Estonia since 2017, as part of a wider set of multinational Nato deployments in eastern Europe.Around the){kind=link}
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is being urged to raise UK defence spending by a key eastern European ally.
Estonia, which borders Russia, has hosted British troops on rotation for years.
Its foreign minister Urmas Reinsalu told the BBC it was “vital” all Nato countries spend 3% of gross domestic product (GDP) on defence.
Mr Sunak has not matched a pledge, set by predecessor Liz Truss, to meet that target by 2030.
The new prime minister, who replaced Ms Truss in Downing Street this week, has previously described such targets as “arbitrary”.