EU's Kallas: Russia is posing an existential threat to our security

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Russia is posing an existential threat to the European Union's security and to only way to address that is to increase spending on defence, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on Wednesday, adding that the EU had for too long offered Russia alternatives.

"Russia poses an existential threat to our security today, tomorrow and for as long as we underinvest in our defence," she said during a speech at the annual conference of the European Defence Agency (EDA).

"People say I'm a 'Russia hawk'. I think I'm simply realistic about Russia," Kallas said.

Kallas, one of EU's most vocal opponents to Russian President Vladimir Putin, also acknowledged U.S. President Donald Trump was right in saying that EU members don't spend enough on defence.

Trump said earlier this month NATO members should spend 5% of gross domestic product (GDP) on defence – a huge increase from the current 2% goal and a level that no NATO country, including the United States, currently reaches.

"Time is not on Russia's side. But it's not necessarily on ours either. Because we are not yet doing enough. There should be no doubt in any of our minds that we must spend more to prevent war. But we also need to prepare for war," Kallas said.

(Reporting by Andrew Gray, Lili Bayer and Benoit Van Overstraeten; Editing by GV De Clercq)

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