Denmark claims about alleged Russian threat ‘smacks of surrealism’ – ambassador

Danish politicians’ claims about a Russian threat smack of surrealism and are detached from reality, Russian Ambassador to Denmark Mikhail Vanin told Berlingske daily. “Surrealism has become the norm for the West in its political assessments and Danish politicians are just painting such gloomy pictures while focusing discourse on the new defense budget,” the newspaper quoted the diplomat as saying. The Danish parliament adopted a plan on January 28 to beef up the defense budget by another 12.8 billion crowns ($2.14 billion) over the next six years, TASS reports. The move is the first since the end of the Cold War. It will allow Denmark to increase its defense spending from 1.17 to 1.3 percent of GDP. NATO is insisting on raising this figure to 2 percent by 2024.