EU countries that didn't spend on defense are 'responsible for invading Ukraine'

This claim came from Trump-era US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who campaigned for nations to pump more money into their armed forces

Vladimir Putin would not have invaded if European countries spent more on defence, it has been claimed (

Image: Getty Images)

EU countries that failed to pump enough money into defense are to blame for Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine, the former top US envoy said today.< /p>

Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo believed the Russian tyrant would have been deterred if European countries had built up their militaries in the post-Cold War years leading up to the conflict.

He said that European states must be persuaded of the need to "protect their own (sovereignty) and that of their European nations".

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Urging the UK to pressure continental nations to increase military spending, he said: "For a very long time they have largely abandoned any desire to devote significant resources to protecting their own sovereignty.

Former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (

Picture:

POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

"They depended too much on others to provide that."

Mr. Pompeo was America's top diplomat when Donald Trump was in the White House.

The then president regularly criticized European NATO members for not meeting the alliance's spending target of injecting 2% of GDP into their armed forces.

Speaking to UK think tank Policy Exchange, Mr Pompeo added: "They weren't serious about the reality check that we can now demonstrably see, but we all knew the risk existed, and this is very important, in...