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As he seeks a second presidency as the presumptive Republican nominee for the White House in 2024, Donald Trump has said he would "encourage" Russia to attack any of the US's NATO allies he considers that they have not fulfilled their financial obligations.
The White House described the remarks as "appalling and undeniable."
Trump made the announcement Saturday during a campaign rally in Conway, South Carolina, ahead of the state's Feb. 24 Republican presidential primary.
The former president has expressed doubts about aid to Ukraine as it defends itself against an invasion launched by Russia in February 2022 - as well as the existence of NATO, the 31-nation alliance that the US has pledged to defend when it is required.
On Saturday, Trump claimed that during a NATO meeting he once told a head of state that the US under his leadership would not defend any country that was "delinquent".
"One of the presidents of a major country stood up and said, 'Well, sir, if we don't pay and we get attacked by Russia, are you going to protect us?'" Trump said.
White House spokesman Andrew Bates, asked about Trump's comments, said that "encouraging invasions of our closest allies by murderous regimes is appalling and unconscionable, and it threatens American national security, global stability and our economy." in place".
NATO countries agreed in 2014, after Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimean peninsula, to halt post-Cold War spending cuts and move towards spending 2% of their GDP on defense by the year 2024.
During his 2016 campaign, Trump alarmed Western allies by warning that the United States, under his leadership, could abandon NATO treaty commitments and come to the defense of only countries that meet the alliance's 2% target .
As of 2022, NATO reported that seven of what are now 31 NATO member states were meeting this obligation – up from three in 2014. Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine has prompted additional military spending by some NATO members -s.
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