NATO agrees on a plan to repel a Russian attack on several fronts | News from Germany about Europe

NATO defense ministers on Thursday, October 21, agreed on a new defense master plan in the event of a Russian attack on multiple fronts, thereby reaffirming the alliance’s key goal of containing Moscow. This strategy is designed to prepare NATO in the event of a simultaneous Russian attack in the Baltic and the Black Sea region with the use of nuclear weapons, hacking of computer networks and attacks from space.

“We continue to strengthen our alliance with improved and modernized plans,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said after the first day of the Alliance Defense Ministers’ Conference, during which the meeting participants agreed to create a $ 1 billion fund to finance the development of new digital technologies.

NATO does not consider Russian attack imminent

NATO officials stressed that they do not consider the threat of a Russian attack imminent. At the same time, Western diplomats emphasize that the “concept of deterrence and defense in the Euro-Atlantic space” and the accompanying strategy for implementing defensive plans are necessary as Russia develops advanced weapons systems and transfers troops and military equipment to NATO’s external borders.

Moscow rejects accusations of aggressive behavior and, for its part, claims that the North Atlantic Alliance is destabilizing the situation in Europe, moving closer and closer to the borders of Russia.

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How NATO and Russia are building up their military forces

“Iron sword” in Lithuania

In Lithuania, until December 2, 2016, NATO forces’ Iron Sword military exercises are being held, in which, in addition to Lithuanian servicemen, soldiers from Germany, the USA, Great Britain and Poland are taking part. An additional battalion of NATO forces will be deployed in Lithuania. In the photo: military exercises of NATO soldiers, which took place in the Lithuanian town of Rukla this fall.

How NATO and Russia are building up their military forces

Russia strengthens its position in the Baltic

The grouping of troops in the Kaliningrad Special Region in 2016 was reinforced by a battalion of the Bastion coastal missile system. New missile systems came into service with the Baltic Fleet in 2016, according to the Russian Ministry of Defense. Photo: summer exercises of the Russian army in the Baltic

How NATO and Russia are building up their military forces

Build strength on both sides

This infographic shows that there is a military build-up on both sides. Russia on its western borders is forming three new divisions with a total strength of up to 30 thousand servicemen. NATO dispatches four battalions to the Baltic states and Poland, each with 1,000 soldiers.

How NATO and Russia are building up their military forces

NATO installs missile defense system in Europe

In 2016, the Aegis ground-based anti-missile defense base was launched in Romania. There is a similar station in Poland. Together with a number of other ground targets, as well as a group of destroyers, the Romanian base is an integral part of the program for building a European phased adaptive missile defense (ABM) system. Russia believes that the missile defense system is directed against it.

How NATO and Russia are building up their military forces

Iskander in Kaliningrad

Meanwhile, Russia continues to strengthen the Kaliningrad region. The Russian Defense Ministry announced that it was implementing its intention to deploy Iskander-M missile systems in the western exclave. According to the Ministry of Defense, they are capable of hitting targets at a distance of up to 500 km, Iskander missiles can be equipped with two types of missiles – ballistic and cruise, and theoretically carry a nuclear warhead.

How NATO and Russia are building up their military forces

Latvia will spend on defense

In autumn, military exercises were held in various parts of Latvia, including the joint exercises of NATO troops “Silver Arrow”. Photo: Latvian Defense Minister Raimonds Bergmanis (center) and US servicemen after military exercises in the Latvian town of Adazi. Bergmanis can expect defense spending to rise by almost 100 million euros in 2017.

How NATO and Russia are building up their military forces

New divisions

For a long time after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the size of the Russian army was declining. But the announcement of the creation of new divisions, primarily near the Russian-Ukrainian border, could reverse this trend. Experts do not yet know how the Ministry of Defense is going to staff the new divisions with personnel. It is necessary to find about 30 thousand additional servicemen.

How NATO and Russia are building up their military forces

Major exercises in Poland

A major NATO military exercise called “Baltops” took place in the Baltic region this summer. They were attended by servicemen from 17 countries – over 6,000 soldiers in total. Alliance Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that the bloc plans to transfer several hundred thousand soldiers to an enhanced regime of service in the member countries of the organization.

How NATO and Russia are building up their military forces

From howitzers to heavy bombers

Russia is actively testing and introducing new types of military equipment into service. These are Su-35S fighters, and Tor, Pantsir-S anti-aircraft missile systems, Verba MANPADS, Tornado-G multiple launch rocket systems and drones. Now the level of rearmament of the army, according to the Russian Ministry of Defense, is 50 percent.

How NATO and Russia are building up their military forces

“We are not in a state of cold war with Russia”

In a recent interview with DW, Jens Stoltenberg stated that NATO is not in a cold war with Russia, calling for a more moderate definition. The scale of the military build-up by both sides is, indeed, incomparably smaller than when the arms race between the USSR and NATO was in full swing, as this timetable from the GDR times reminds of.

Author: Mikhail Bushuev