As of: February 7, 2024, 10:45 a.m
By: Patrick Mayer
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Deputy Head of the Security Council of the Russian Federation: Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev.
(Archive photo) © IMAGO / Russian Look
Dmitry Medvedev, former President of Russia, warns NATO of a “big war”.
He describes the major maneuver as a “dangerous game with fire.”
Suwalken - Amid Kremlin autocrat Vladimir Putin's efforts to mobilize the Russian population, his confidant Dmitry Medvedev has sharply criticized NATO and warned of a "big war."
The reason: the major NATO exercise “Steadfast Defender 2024”.
Medvedev, who served as Russian president from 2008 to 2012, spoke on the Russian social network VKontakte, according to media reports, calling the maneuver, which takes place between February and May, “a very dangerous game with fire.”
“The forces assembled are considerable.
And exercises of this magnitude have not happened since the last century,” said Medvedev.
The politician, known for his polemics, made a direct threat to NATO: “All sensible people in the West understand this. But if they act too harshly and damage the integrity of our country, they will immediately receive an appropriate response.”
He added: “This will mean only one thing: a major war that NATO will no longer be able to avoid.”
Major NATO maneuvers in Russia's front yard: Putin confidant Dmitri Medvedev rumbles against the West
The American news magazine
Newsweek
reported that Medvedev had become quite rude in his comments on social media.
The 58-year-old wrote: “Western politicians who have shit their pants and their mediocre generals in NATO have once again decided to scare us.”
He was further quoted as saying: "If a NATO member provides airfields to Ukrainian troops in the Ukraine war, they will certainly become a legitimate target for our armed forces and will be mercilessly destroyed as enemies."
“All helmets with NATO symbols who are boastfully rattling their weapons not far from our borders today should remember this,” he added.
NATO maneuver “Steadfast Defender”: 90,000 soldiers, including 13,000 Germans
In addition to Medvedev, Konstantin Gavrilov, a Russian diplomat, also warned NATO of a military confrontation, while Germany plans to equip the Ukrainians with Leopard 1 tanks and Marder infantry fighting vehicles for large formations in the coming months.
According to state news agency
Tass
, Gavrilov said: “These NATO exercises bring together 90,000 soldiers, officers and equipment.
The transfer of equipment takes place in the east direction, that is, it simulates the so-called defense of the Suwalki Corridor.
We call this a completely blatant provocation.”
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Gavrilov, the head of the Russian delegation to the negotiations in Vienna on military security and arms control within the framework of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), continued: “Strengthening the alliance is not for defense, but actually for “To test possibilities for possible provocations against the Russian Federation”.
The so-called Suwalki Gap to which he refers extends over 104 kilometers near the small Polish town of Suwalken between the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad and the Kremlin-allied Belarus.
This corridor on the Polish-Lithuanian border is considered NATO's Achilles heel.
Between Poland and Lithuania: NATO exercise to defend the Baltics
The concern is that the Baltics could be cut off by land routes.
The Bundeswehr is “focusing on multinational combat exercises in Poland and Lithuania, among others,” suggesting that simulated battles could take place around the Suwalki Corridor.
The German army is providing 13,000 soldiers and probably dozens of Leopard 2 main battle tanks for the major maneuver.
The Bundeswehr writes on its website: “For the final exercise Grand Quadriga, from mid-May 2024, the 10th Panzer Division will be relocated from various locations in Germany by ship, rail and road march to Lithuania in order to defend and counterattack together with the alliance partners to practice alliance territory.”
Norway, Sweden and Poland warn of possible war with Russia
Amid continued threats from Moscow, Polish Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz has announced that his country - a neighbor of Germany - is no longer ruling out a possible war with Russia.
In an interview with the daily Super Express, he explained that Poland had to prepare for such a war and that his ministry had already taken concrete preparatory steps.
Before Poland, Sweden and Norway had already no longer ruled out the possibility of a Russian attack on NATO territory.
Eirik Kristoffersen, the Norwegian commander, warned his compatriots about such a scenario in an interview published on January 23.
The 54-year-old military man told the newspaper Dagbladet: “We are running out of time.”
“There is now a window of time, maybe one, two, maybe three years, in which we need to invest even more in secure defense,” he added.
(pm)
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