Admiral Rob Bauer, chairman of NATO’s military committee, said the alliance was ready for a direct confrontation with Russia.
Source: Bauer in an interview with RTP, a Portuguese public broadcaster
Quote from RTP: “Rob Bauer insists that NATO is prepared for a direct confrontation with Russia and acknowledges that rearmament is the alliance’s top priority. He also acknowledges that the organization has lost its monopoly on military initiative.”
Details: Bauer recalled that during last year’s NATO summit in Madrid, the alliance decided to set up four more multinational combat forces in Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia in response to Russia’s actions in Ukraine.
“This is an important signal for Russia … that we are ready if they decide to go after NATO. That’s a red line. If there’s a red line, it’s the Russians crossing our borders,” the chairman of the NATO Military Committee said.
Bauer said the NATO countries should align civilian industrial production with the needs of the military and advocated the idea of a “war economy in peacetime”.
He added that he believes Russia’s strategic goals go beyond Ukraine, as Moscow wants to claim the territory of the former Soviet Union.
When asked if NATO feared an escalation in the Russo-Ukrainian war, Bauer said that while the start of Russian aggression represented an escalation, Ukraine’s desire to retake the territories to which it was entitled was not an escalation.
“If [the Russians] Stop the war today, there will be no escalation,” emphasized Bauer.
Until now: On January 19, Rob Bauer said Russia remains a threat to NATO even if its forces are defeated in Ukraine.
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