Germany to boost military by up to 60,000 troops

Germany will need up to 60,000 additional troops under new Nato targets for weapons and personnel, Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said on June 5, as the alliance beefs up its forces to respond to what it sees as an increased threat by Russia.

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"We are stepping up to our responsibility as Europe's largest economy," the minister told reporters ahead of a meeting with his Nato counterparts in Brussels that was set to approve the new targets.

The fresh demands are tailored to the alliance's defence plans, thousands of pages of secret documents drawn up for the first time since the end of the Cold War, that detail how allied forces would respond to a Russian attack on Nato.