Chairman of the NATO Military Committee, Rob Bauer, said that the countries of the Alliance are ready for a potential conflict with Russia.
He said that NATO recognized the change in the security situation in 2014 after the Russian occupation of Crimea.
“We are all aware that time is of the essence when it comes to re-establishing collective security because the enemy determines when and where to attack you, as well as the length of the conflict. Unfortunately, Ukraine has experienced this,” he said.
When asked if NATO is ready, he answers in the affirmative.
“Our primary task is to be ready. If it happens today, you have to fight with what you have. It’s always a combination of being ready for today and improving the possibilities for the future,” he points out.
When asked about NATO’s readiness on its eastern wing, where there are the most potential threats, he recalled how the Alliance has increased its presence in the Baltic states since 2016, as well as in Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria since the outbreak of full-scale war in Ukraine.
“Now we have eight such battle groups, each with a battalion and they can be combined into a brigade if necessary. The relevant countries are constantly cooperating on this mechanism. We will consider additional requests. But for now, this is enough,” said Bauer.
He also stated that he is not worried about the possibility of increasing threats from Russia after the re-election of Vladimir Putin, because the war in Ukraine has weakened Russia, and the modernization of its troops will be complicated by Western sanctions.
“We see that Russia has the capacity to produce large quantities of weapons, but their quality has been steadily declining since the beginning of the war. They have plans, but they are at war, so it will take them a long time. It will not be easy for them,”Bauer mentioned, Klix.ba reports.
E.Dz.
