NATO to Help Slovakia Discard Russian Military Equipment

Slovakian armed forces will be cutting down on Russian military equipment as part of its modernization program, Slovakian President Andrej Kiska said Tuesday.

“The process of modernization of the Slovak armed forces has begun. And our ambition is really absolutely to reduce our dependence on Russian military equipment,” Kiska said in a joint press conference with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in Brussels, according to Sputnik News.

Slovak Defense Minister Martin Glvac visited the Pentagon in January where he met with the US defense secretary at the time, Chuck Hagel.

The two officials discussed strategic cooperation in modernizing Slovakia's military, with Hagel pledging his support for the Eastern European country's modernization efforts.

Slovakia is committed to spending 1.6 percent of its GDP on defense by 2020, Glvac said. The country plans to allocate 20 percent of the defense budget to modernization by 2016, he added.