China firmly opposes NATO's "smearing and scapegoating" of China, its embassy in Britain said on Wednesday in response to remarks NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte made about Beijing's military build-up earlier this week.

The head of NATO says members need to increase their air and missile defenses by 400% to counter the threat from Russia and warns that Moscow could be ready to attack the military alliance within five years.

One of the first sights that greets arrivals to the centre of Serbia's capital Belgrade are government buildings in an advance state of collapse. Nato planes bombed them back in 1999 – and they remain in much the same condition.

Russia is determined to test the resolve of the NATO alliance, including by extending its confrontation with the West beyond the borders of Ukraine, the Germany's foreign intelligence chief told the Table Media news organization.

NATO allies are expected to be asked to pump up their defense spending when the organization's Secretary General Mark Rutte speaks in London Monday.

NATO exercise shows alliance resolve as concerns grow about Russia's shadow fleet in the Baltic Sea, with incidents of severed cables raising regional tensions

BERLIN (Reuters) -Russia is determined to test the resolve of the NATO alliance, including by extending its confrontation with the West beyond the borders of Ukraine, the Germany's foreign intelligence chief told the Table Media news organization.

Russia is plotting an attack on Nato territory to test the Western alliance's unity, a spy chief warned on Wednesday.