As of: February 7, 2024, 7:10 p.m
By: Bettina Menzel
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NATO wants to rehearse the emergency of an attack with 90,000 soldiers.
The proximity to the Russian border is causing unrest – and a violent reaction.
Brussels/Moscow - NATO wants to carry out its largest military exercise in many decades: around 90,000 soldiers will simulate a hypothetical attack on alliance territory.
The massive exercise, known as Steadfast Defender, will last until the end of May and includes individual exercises stretching from North America to NATO's eastern flank near the Russian border.
Russia recently reacted sensitively to a NATO exercise near its own border.
A spokeswoman for the Foreign Ministry in Moscow now warned of “tragic consequences.”
Two soldiers during a NATO exercise in 2021 at your US air force base in Italy.
In 2024, the defense alliance started its largest military exercise in decades.
© IMAGO / ZUMA Wire/US Air Force
According to Moscow, NATO military exercise is “deliberately aimed at escalation”
In the context of the war in Ukraine, the 31 member countries of the alliance as well as the candidate Sweden will demonstrate their “ability to strengthen the Euro-Atlantic area through the transatlantic transfer of forces from North America,” said the commander in chief of NATO troops in Europe , US General Christopher Cavoli.
“Unity, strength and determination” will also be demonstrated, the NATO general added.
The alliance's intention to hold the military exercise near the Russian border was described as "provocative" by Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, in Moscow on Friday, saying it "increases the risk of military incidents and could have tragic consequences for Europe."
However, she did not specify what consequences this might have.
Zakharova further claimed that the decision to hold a military exercise near the Russian border was deliberately aimed at escalation, Russian state news agency
Tass
reported.
However, the diplomat emphasized that Russia has no intentions of attacking NATO countries.
“In this way, the alliance is trying to justify its existence in the eyes of millions of Europeans and Americans, its agenda to contain Russia, justify the insane increase in military spending and, of course, somehow distract the public,” she added.
NATO exercise: “Do not confuse exercise content with military reality”
On February 24, 2022, Russia attacked Ukraine.
According to information from the German Press Agency,
the scenario of the large-scale exercise is based
on a Russian attack on Allied territory, which would lead to the activation of the so-called alliance case according to Article 5 of the NATO Treaty.
“The content of the exercise must not be confused with the current political and military reality,” explained former NATO general Erhard Bühler in his podcast “What to do, Mr. General?” to classify the background.
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However, Bühler emphasized that the scenario is neither a forecast nor an assessment of the future security situation, but rather that one is working with a fictitious opponent.
Rob Bauer, the chairman of the NATO military committee, explained that the exercise was preparation for “a conflict with Russia and terrorist groups.”
The alliance currently sees Russia as the greatest threat to the security of its allies.
Bauer also pointed out that there is not yet the necessary awareness in society that it is not just the military that needs to be able to act in a conflict or war.
“The whole of society will be involved, whether we like it or not,” added the chairman of the NATO military committee.
“I'm not saying that things will go wrong tomorrow, but we have to recognize that it is not a given that we live in peace,” Bauer further warned.
(bme)
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