NATO commander: War with Russia a possibility in 5 to 8 years

A senior NATO commander says Europe’s armed forces and civilians alike need to prepare for a potential future war with Russia.

Germany estimates that such a conflict could break out in less than a decade.

The chair of NATO’s military committee of national chiefs, Admiral Rob Bauer, said Thursday the military alliance is “preparing for a conflict with Russia.”

“We have to realize it's not a given that we are in peace and that's why we have the plans, that's why we are preparing for a conflict.”

The Dutch admiral made the remarks as NATO prepares to launch its largest military exercise in decades next week.

The Steadfast Defender 2024 drills will run to late May and involve about 9,000 troops from all the 31 NATO member countries plus candidate-member Sweden.

Bauer said the scale of the exercise was a demonstration of NATO’s new level of readiness.

“That is a record number of troops that we can bring to bear and have an exercise within that size, across the alliance, across the ocean, from the US to Europe.”

Germany's Defense Minister Boris Pistorius has also warned that Russia will be able to attack NATO member countries in less than a decade.

“We hear threats from the Kremlin almost every day ... so we have to take into account that [President] Vladimir Putin might even attack a NATO country one day.”

While a war with Russia is not likely “for now,” Pistorius said, “our experts expect a period of five to eight years in which this could be possible.”

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Late last year, Germany revamped its military for the first time in more than a decade, citing rising “military threats” against Europe.

Poland’s Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz made similar remarks earlier this week, saying that the country needs “to be ready for any scenario.”

And Lithuania’s Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis called on Europe to speed up preparations for a possible war with Russia.

“There's a chance that Russia might not be contained in Ukraine,” Landsbergis said Thursday. “There is no scenario in this that if Ukraine doesn't win, that could end well for Europe.”

After Russia launched its “special military operation” in Ukraine in February 2022, NATO said Russia was the “most significant and direct threat to allies' security.”

US President Joe Biden also claimed that a victory for Russia in Ukraine would strengthen Moscow to such an extent that it could then attack NATO allies and draw US troops into a war.

Biden made the remarks in an address to the Republicans, whom he has so far failed to convince to back a $61.4-billion assistance package for Ukraine.

Russia’s President Putin dismissed Biden’s claims as “complete nonsense.” He said Moscow “has no reason, no interest – no geopolitical interest, neither economic, political nor military – to fight with NATO countries.”

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