NATO: we are preparing for conflict with Russia

The head of NATO's military committee said this Thursday (18) that the Western military alliance is preparing for a possible conflict with Russia, amid the war in Ukraine. Rob Bauer told journalists that “not everything is planable” and that “not everything will be easy in the next 20 years”.

“I'm not saying it will go wrong tomorrow, but we have to realize that it's not certain that we will be at peace. That’s why we have plans and that’s why we are preparing for a conflict with Russia and terrorist groups,” continued the soldier.

Even so, Bauer made it clear that an eventual war with Moscow would only happen if NATO was attacked. “We are not looking for any conflict, but if they attack us, we have to be prepared”, reinforced the admiral.

In Brussels, headquarters of the alliance, the admiral also said that NATO needs a military transformation at the moment. According to him, in the past, governments lived in which everything was “abundant, predictable, controllable and focused on efficiency”.

He also reinforced that Ukraine, at war with Russia, will continue to have NATO support in the future because “the outcome of this conflict will determine the fate of the world”.

Military exercise

Bauer's statement comes in the same week that NATO announced it will hold the alliance's largest military exercises since the Cold War. Around 90,000 soldiers will be involved.

The exercises, called Steadfast Defender 2024, will take place until May, said NATO's top commander, Chris Cavoli, this Thursday (18).

It will be simulated, for example, how United States troops can reinforce European allies in countries that border Russia and on the alliance's eastern flank.

More than 50 ships, from aircraft carriers to destroyers, will participate, as will more than 80 fighter jets, helicopters and drones and at least 1,100 combat vehicles, including 133 tanks and 533 infantry fighting vehicles, according to the military alliance.

Cavoli said the exercises will simulate the execution of NATO's regional plans, the first defense plans the alliance has drawn up in decades, detailing how it would respond to a Russian attack.

The organization did not mention Russia by name in its announcement, but its main strategic document identifies Russia as the most significant and direct threat to the security of the bloc's members.

“Steadfast Defender 2024 will demonstrate NATO’s ability to quickly deploy forces from North America and other parts of the alliance to reinforce Europe’s defense,” they highlighted.

The reinforcement will take place during a “simulated scenario of an emerging conflict with a close adversary,” Cavoli explained to reporters in Brussels, following a two-day meeting of national defense chiefs.

The last exercises of a similar size were Reforger, during the Cold War, in 1988, with 125 thousand participants, and Trident Juncture, in 2018, with 50 thousand participants, according to NATO.

The troops who will participate in the exercises, which will involve simulations of sending agents to Europe as well as field exercises, will come from NATO countries and Sweden, which hopes to join the alliance soon.

The Allies signed off on the regional plans at the Vilnius summit in 2023, ending a long era in which the organization saw no need for large-scale defense plans while Western countries fought smaller wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and felt Russia's post -Soviet no longer represented an existential threat.

During the second part of the Steadfast Defender exercise, special attention will be paid to deploying NATO's rapid reaction force to Poland, on the alliance's eastern flank.

Other important locations for the exercises will be the Baltic States, considered to be at greatest risk of a potential Russian attack; Germany, a hub for the arrival of reinforcements; and countries close to the alliance, such as Norway and Romania.

*With information from Reuters