US secy of state demands Nato allies pay up

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson yesterday pressed Nato allies to ramp up military spending and denounced Russia's "aggression" in Ukraine, toughening the Trump administration's tone toward Moscow.

Tillerson delivered the message as he met fellow Nato foreign ministers for the first time ahead of a May 25 summit to be attended by leaders including President Donald Trump.

"As President Trump has made clear, it is no longer sustainable for the US to maintain a disproportionate share of Nato's defence expenditures," Tillerson said in Brussels. He urged his fellow foreign ministers to agree at the May summit to produce plans by the end of the year to meet the spending pledge.

Nato countries originally agreed at a summit in Wales in 2014 to contribute the equivalent of two percent of their gross domestic product to defence.