As of: February 29, 2024, 5:11 a.m
By: Bettina Menzel
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With the addition of Sweden, NATO grows to 32 states: Hungary agreed to join on Monday.
On the same day, Kremlin leader Putin signed two decrees and reorganized the military structure in Russia.
Moscow – The military situation in Ukraine is tense.
Kiev's troops are coming under increasing pressure due to a lack of ammunition.
Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed two decrees on Monday (February 26) that reorganize Russia's military.
The war experts at the US think tank Institute for the Study of War (ISW) analyzed that the Kremlin boss was pursuing two goals.
One of them: preparation for a possible large-scale, conventional war against NATO.
Russian President Vladimir Putin in a video conference in September 2023, broadcast from Sochi on the Black Sea.
© Imago/Mikhail Klimentyev/Kremlin Pool/Zuma Wire
Putin is reorganizing the military structure: areas of Ukraine that were annexed in violation of international law are also affected
After months of stalling, Hungary approved Stockholm's application for membership in the North Atlantic defense alliance NATO on Monday.
On the same day, Putin ordered a reorganization of his military structure.
What at first glance sounds like a bureaucratic act may actually provide insight into strategic plans.
According to ISW, the decrees signed by the Kremlin chief officially restore the Moscow and Leningrad military districts and strip the Russian Northern Fleet of its status as a central agency.
This is intended to restore the military district commands as the primary centers of power for the Russian ground forces and to allocate naval resources to the Russian Navy, the ISW report continues.
In addition, the second decree also incorporated the Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk and Luhansk regions of occupied Ukraine into the Southern Military District.
In 2022, Moscow held sham referendums in Ukraine and annexed the four regions - like the Crimean peninsula in 2014 - in violation of international law.
The inclusion of “both occupied and unoccupied parts of Ukrainian territory further suggests that Russia pursues maximalist goals in Ukraine and seeks to fully incorporate all five of these Ukrainian territories into the Russian Federation,” according to the ISW analysis.
Reorganization of the military should prepare Russia for war against NATO in the long term
The U.S. war experts continue that the reorganization supports the parallel goals of "consolidating control over Russian operations in Ukraine in the short to medium term and preparing for a possible future large-scale conventional war against NATO in the long term."
The Leningrad Military District will now run along NATO's northeastern border, while the Moscow Military District will border northeast Ukraine and Poland.
This enables Russia to “simultaneously position itself against NATO and streamline the command and control structures for the war in Ukraine.”
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Tensions with NATO are increasing: debate about sending Western soldiers to Ukraine
This change in Moscow's military comes at a time of great tension with NATO.
Recently, French President Emmanuel Macron did not fundamentally rule out the deployment of French ground troops in Ukraine.
“Today there is no consensus about officially sending ground troops,” Macron said literally.
“But nothing can be ruled out in the dynamic.
We will do whatever it takes to ensure that Russia does not win this war.”
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico warned of a “dangerous escalation of tensions” with Russia, without naming specific countries.
“Several NATO and EU member states are considering sending their soldiers to the territory of Ukraine on a bilateral basis,” Fico claimed on Monday.
On Tuesday, Ulf Kristersson, Prime Minister of Sweden, described the possible deployment of Western soldiers to Ukraine as “not an issue at all” at the moment.
War experts warn of Transnistria's secession
In addition, there have recently been warnings from the Republic of Moldova that the internationally unrecognized separatist region of Transnistria could soon ask to be admitted to the Russian Federation.
The US war experts at the ISW also made a corresponding statement in their report on Thursday.
It was said that an alleged threat from the Republic of Moldova or NATO would be used as a pretext.
It is "unlikely", but "in the most dangerous case" Kremlin leader Putin could announce the annexation of Transnistria in a speech to the Russian Federal Assembly on February 29th, it was said.
Meanwhile, Ukraine's resolve in its defensive battle against Russia remains unbroken.
Kiev's troops have recently achieved individual successes, particularly in the fight against the Russian Black Sea Fleet and in the air.
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