ISTANBUL

European leaders warned Saturday that Russia poses a continuing long-term threat to Europe and must be countered with stronger deterrence and sustained military support for Ukraine, as officials speaking at the Munich Security Conference stressed the need for faster defense investment.

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said Moscow’s actions show that it is not seeking peace.

“Russia will not change … they are not interested in peace,” she said, arguing that the Western alliance must respond with strength.

She cautioned that Europe faces simultaneous security pressures: “We have an eastern flank … a southern flank … a northern flank … and a flank when it comes to new technologies.”

Frederiksen warned that current defense spending levels may fall short.

“Now we spend 3.5% of our GDP in Denmark on defense. I’m not sure it will be enough,” she said, adding that targets set for later decades could be too slow.

She also dismissed any suggestion of territorial bargaining over Greenland, saying: “If one NATO country attacks another NATO country, then NATO ends. It’s game over.”

Joint defense efforts

Finnish President Alexander Stubb argued that Russia has failed strategically despite the war’s intensity.

“Putin wanted to take over Ukraine … it became European,” he said, adding that Moscow’s goals of preventing NATO expansion and weakening European defense spending also backfired.

He cited battlefield losses to underline his point: “In December, 35,000 Russian soldiers died. In January, 30,000 Russian soldiers died … that’s 65,000 soldiers dead in two months.”

Stubb called the war “a total strategic failure from Russia’s part” and said the allies must act decisively.

Finland, which has the longest border of any NATO country with Russia, held off an invasion by the USSR for three months in late 1939 and early 1940, before surrendering.

Pedro Sanchez, Spain’s prime minister, said Europe must focus on joint defense efforts rather than simply boosting spending targets.

“We need to focus more on not only how much do we spend, but how much do we spend together,” he said. He warned that raising targets too quickly could have unintended consequences:

“If we agree with this idea of 5%, at the end of the day we will become more dependent on the US defense industry.”

Sanchez added that the war represents a broader geopolitical challenge. “This is not only an attack on Ukraine, it’s also an attack against the European Union as a whole,” he said, urging unity among allies.