As the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) prepares for its largest military exercise in decades, a senior NATO official has warned that an all-out war with Russia could develop within the next two decades.
“We must recognize that peace cannot be taken for granted,” Dutch Admiral Rob Bauer, chairman of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) military committee, told reporters after a meeting of allied defense chiefs in Brussels. It must be done,” he said.
“That’s why we [NATO forces] “We are preparing for a conflict with Russia.”
His warning comes ahead of the start next week of months-long military exercises involving some 90,000 troops aimed at proving the alliance can defend its territory up to the border with Russia. It was conducted.
Bauer also said that large numbers of civilians would also need to be mobilized in case of war, and argued that allied governments should begin planning for such large-scale mobilizations.
“That starts with the recognition that not everything is planable and not everything is going to work out over the next 20 years,” he said.
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius has also warned that Russian President Vladimir Putin could attack NATO countries within 10 years, and there are speculations that an attack could become even more imminent. be. He told Germany's Tagesspiegel newspaper.
Newly leaked German military documents even envision a scenario in which Russia launches a large-scale attack in the spring of 2024, taking advantage of a decline in Western support for Ukraine, but German officials say this scenario is unlikely. “It's extremely unlikely,” he said. According to Business Insider.
Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis has also called on Europe to accelerate its preparations for such an attack.
“Russia may not be contained by Ukraine,” Landsbergis said, warning that “there is no scenario in which it will end well for Europe if Ukraine does not win.”
As stockpiles of arms and ammunition continue to dwindle from the Ukraine conflict, he and other NATO officials are increasingly concerned that their governments and private arms manufacturers are lagging in preparing for an attack.
Meanwhile, Russia has tripled its military spending to 40% of its total national budget and is strengthening its manufacturing industry.
The country has also rejected a U.S. proposal to restart arms control dialogue, with officials saying the U.S. will continue to push back against Ukraine amid the expected conclusion of the New Start Treaty, which limits the U.S. and Russia's long-range nuclear weapons. They claim that they are simply aiming for Russia's strategic defeat in the United States. His term expires in February 2026, but The Wall Street Journal reported.
“We need to be better prepared on all fronts,” Bauer said in remarks Thursday.
“Whether we go to war or not, we need to have a system in place to find more people if we go to war.Then we talk about mobilization, reserve and conscription.
“If we find ourselves in a conflict, we need to be able to rely on an industrial base that can produce weapons and ammunition fast enough.”
In December, President Putin rejected President Biden's claims that Russia could go to war with NATO, calling them “complete nonsense.”
Still, about 90,000 NATO troops are scheduled to begin the largest NATO military exercise since the Cold War.
The operation, dubbed “Steadfast Defender,” is specifically aimed at preparing the Alliance for an invasion of Russia.
