The Russian armed forces are bruised, but not by chance defeated in the war in Ukraine, NATO Military Committee Chairman Rob Bauer said today and announced the biggest change in the alliance's military plans since the Cold War in case Moscow dares to expand the conflict.
"They may not be three meters tall, but they are certainly not half a meter tall. So we should never underestimate the Russians and their ability to recover," Bauer told reporters in Brussels.
NATO leaders are expected to endorse a major overhaul of the alliance's planning system at a summit in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius on July 11-12.
NATO, as an organization, does not supply weapons and ammunition to Ukraine. NATO is trying to avoid being drawn into a wider war with nuclear-armed Russia, while at the same time significantly strengthening the security of its members near Russia, Ukraine and Belarus.
About 40.000 soldiers are on standby from Estonia in the north to Romania on the Black Sea. About 100 NATO planes take off in that area every day, and a total of 27 warships operate in the Baltic and Mediterranean seas.
The goal of NATO's new plans is to have up to 300.000 troops ready to move to the alliance's eastern flank within 30 days. The plans divide NATO territory into three zones, the far north and the Atlantic, a zone north of the Alps and another in southern Europe.
Bauer said NATO's new planning was based on the strength of the Russian military before Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a war against Ukraine in February last year. A NATO official said the war had exhausted Russia's ground forces, but not its navy or air force.
"What we generally see is that the Russians are cautious about NATO. They're not in favor of seeking conflict with NATO. I think that's a sign that they're very, very busy. In the land domain, I don't think they have a lot of forces at their disposal if any what they do to anybody else," Bauer said.
However, he expressed his belief that the Russians will recover and added that NATO "will continue to view them as a serious threat."
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