European nations have been left at the kids’ table in talks over the future of Ukraine because of decades of under-investment in defence, the chief of Germany’s largest defence contractor has warned.
Armin Papperger, chief executive of Rheinmetall, said Europe had itself to blame for being sidelined from US President Donald Trump’s negotiations to end the war in Ukraine.
“If you don’t invest, if you’re not strong, they handle you like kids,” he told the Financial Times. “It was very convenient for the Europeans over the last 30 years to say, OK, spend 1 per cent [of GDP on defence], it’s fine.”
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