Russia could be ready to attack NATO within five years and leaders of the western alliance are expected to agree to increase military spending to 5% of GDP this month to contain the threat, the alliance`s secretary general has said, writes The Guardian.

Mark Rutte said in a speech in London on Monday that NATO needed "a quantum leap in our collective defence" which would include significant rearmament to deter an increasingly militarised Russia.

That would include a fivefold increase in air defence, thousands more tanks and millions more artillery shells to boost stockpiles and ensure NATO countries match existing levels of Russian production.

Speaking at Chatham House after meeting the UK prime minister, Keir Starmer, Rutte said, looking ahead to the summit in The Hague this month: "I expect allied leaders to agree to spend 5% of GDP on defence". Of that 3.5% of GDP would be core military spending.

"Danger will not disappear even when the war in Ukraine ends”, Rutte emphasised, reflecting a belief that the Kremlin will not demilitarise even it agrees to a ceasefire and eventually to peace with Kyiv.

The remarks provoked an immediate response from Moscow. Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesperson, said that NATO "is demonstrating itself as an instrument of aggression and confrontation" with the emerging plan.