NATO foreign ministers met in Brussels for a second day on Wednesday to discuss China's ties with Russia.

The meeting follows Chinese President Xi Jinping's recent visit to Moscow.

"The provision of legal aid by China to Russia would be a historic mistake with profound implications," NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said after the meeting. 

"China refuses to condemn Russia's aggression. It echoes Russian propaganda. And it props up Russia's economy," Stoltenberg said.

The NATO chief said that China was becoming an indispensible trade partner for Moscow amid broad Western sanctions on Russia. Stoltenberg pointed to Russia's recent announcement that it would station nuclear weapons in neighboring Belarus as evidence that Russia had made "empty promises." 

Days before Putin's announcement, Russia and China had released a document criticizing countries for stationing nuclear weapons outside their borders. 

"What we need to watch closely is what Russia is doing," Stoltenberg said.

Wednesday's talks were to focus on the impact of Russia's invasion of Ukraine's on the Indo-Pacific region, with representatives from Australia, New Zealand, Japan and South Korea invited as a result.

"What happens in Europe matters for the Indo-Pacific, for Asia. And what happens in Asia matters for Europe," Stoltenberg said.

"And the war in Ukraine really demonstrates that with all its global ramifications," he added.

Appeal for detained WSJ journalist Gershkovich

Stoltenberg also echoed an earlier call on Russia to release Wall Street Journal journalist Evan Gershkovich, who was arrested and charged with espionage last week. 

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken also said in comments in Brussels that "there's no doubt" that Gershkovich had been wrongfully detained by Russia.

"It's something that we're working through very deliberately, but expeditiously as well. And I'll let that process play out," Blinken said. 

Stoltenberg proposes 'minimum' 2% defense target

Stoltenberg told NATO foreign ministers that the alliance would need to increase defense spending. He argued that the alliance's security could not be taken for granted in a "contested and dangerous world."

The NATO chief said he expected member states to sign off on a new pledge taking what used to be the alliance's target of spending 2% of GDP on defense and turning it into "a minimum to be invested in defense." 

Several NATO members, Germany included, fall well short of the figure. 

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock sought to tread a fine line regarding the proposal, saying the alliance should focus on better coordinating its military capabilities.

She said that while "more financial means are necessary," it wasn't just be about figures. Baerbock argued that a country having a bad economic year could suddenly meet a target they were previously missing despite having made no military changes at all when measuring contributions as a percentage of GDP.

Nevertheless, Baerbock also said there should be a "fair division of burdens" among members. 

Turkish veto still holding Sweden back

Sweden also attended the gathering as an invitee, although it is yet to formally join the alliance amid Turkish opposition. On Tuesday, neighboringFinland became the 31st member of the Western military alliance.

Both Finland and Sweden, which remained neutral throughout the Cold War, applied after Russia's invasion of Ukraine. But Turkey resisted both countries' applications and is still holding out on Stockholm's accession.

Turkey, which initially blocked the membership bids from both Nordic countries, accuses Sweden in particular of fostering "terrorism" by hosting what it says are Kurdish terrorists on its soil. 

Following talks with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Brussels, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told reporters on Wednesday that Sweden needed to take further steps for Turkey to ratify its membership bid.

Stoltenberg said after the meeting that NATO members "agreed" that Sweden should join as soon as possible. Germany's Baerbock called for this to materialize in time for NATO's July summit in Lithuanian capital Vilnius. 

rm, tj/msh (dpa, Reuters)

Editor's note: An earlier version of this article incorrectly indentified Vilnius as the capital of Latvia.