This is part six of a series examining the challenges confronting the NATO alliance.As President Donald Trump presses NATO allies to shoulder more of Europe's defense burden, countries closest to Russia are moving fastest — while some of Western Europe's biggest economies face growing pressure to catch up. Retired Rear Adm.Mark Montgomery, senior director at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and former deputy director for strategy, policy and plans at U.S.
European Command, said the shift is already visible across the alliance."Europe is clearly stepping up, but they're stepping up by geographic variation," Montgomery told Fox News Digital."If you ask me who's doing the most, the Eastern Europeans are clearly."RUSSIAN DRONES TEST NATO'S ARTICLE 5 DEFENSE GUARANTEE AHEAD OF FRIDAY SANCTIONS DEADLINEAs President Donald Trump presses NATO allies to shoulder more of Europe's defense burden, countries closest to Russia are moving fastest.(Burak Akbulut/Anadolu via Getty Images)Montgomery pointed to the Baltic states, Poland, Romania and Bulgaria as countries moving aggressively to strengthen deterrence against Russia.His assessment comes as NATO allies work toward a new defense spending benchmark agreed at the 2025 summit in The Hague, which calls on members to invest 5% of GDP in defense and security-related spending by 2035, including 3.5% for core defense requirements and 1.5% for defense-related infrastructure and security investments.John Deni, a research professor at the U.S.
Army War College, said the trend shouldn't be surprising. "Given the threat of Russia, allies in the East are acquiring capabilities more quickly, and they're spending even more than allies in the West," Deni told Fox News Digital."This shouldn't surprise us because they're the ones closest to the threat."Deni noted that many eastern allies are rapidly purchasing equipment already available on the market rather than waiting years for domestic defense programs to mature.UK, GERMA...