Army Chief of Staff Karel Řehka has said more than once recently that Russia is on a trajectory of conflict with Nato and that we must be prepared. If war broke out, he said, the CR would be an active participant from the very start. PM Petr Fiala said in response that the CR faces no immediate threat of military conflict but that the army must prepare for all possibilities, including those that are not very likely. His finance minister, Zbyněk Stanjura, is now proposing a 42.9% increase in defense outlays next year, to Kč 159.8bn, according to an initial budget proposal obtained by HN. Such a large peacetime increase is unheard-of and is only possible because Stanjura's ministry is forecasting nominal GDP growth of 10.0% this year and 6.9% next year, thereby requiring the 42.9% jump in the defense budget to meet the 2% Nato commitment. Even if the sharp spending increase is more an economic-forecasting phenomenon, it gives the impression that the country is aggressively being prepared for war.