The US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson criticized the military invasion of Russia in Ukraine. “We want to have a discussion around NATO's posture in Europe, most particularly in eastern Europe in response to Russia's aggression in Ukraine and elsewhere,” Tillerson said, DW reports.

The head of the US foreign policy again required the European partners to increase the defense expenditures in NATO in the Belgian capital. " Allies that do not have a concrete plan to spend 2 percent of GDP on defense by 2024 need to establish one now," Tillerson said at the beginning of the meeting.

At the same time, the German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel called the two-percentage deductions unrealistic. According to him, in 2014, it was decided to take actions to move in that direction rather than sharply switching to such a policy. By the end of 2016, besides the US, Greece, Estonia, the United Kingdom, and Poland also allotted 2 percent of their GDP for defense. Germany has deducted 1.2 percent of its budget. According to Gabriel, it is necessary to pay attention not only to defense expenditure but also deductions for humanitarian aid and stabilization of the situation in the regions of crises.