Ahead of the NATO summit in Ankara, Latvia’s President Edgars Rinkevics says the alliance must move beyond defense spending pledges and focus on building real military capabilities.

While welcoming NATO's commitment to spend 5% of GDP on defense, he warns that money alone is not enough without weapons, missiles and equipment. Rinkevics also described US plans to reduce its military presence in Europe as a challenge, stressing that Washington remains indispensable to NATO. He cautioned that allies must be prepared for the risk of further Russian escalation in Ukraine.