The North Atlantic Alliance must be prepared for a full-scale war with Russia. The conflict may unfold in the next 20 years, Chairman of the NATO Military Committee, Admiral Rob Bauer believes.
According to Bauer, the authorities of NATO member countries and the civilian population must be prepared for such a scenario and possible conscription for military service.
Peaceful life is not a given, Bauer pointed out.
The head of the NATO Military Committee called on NATO countries to modernise their industries so that in the event of a conflict they could produce weapons and ammunition faster. In his speech, the admiral also praised Sweden for asking its citizens to prepare for war before formally joining the alliance.
German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said that war with Russia could be possible within the next five to eight years.
"We hear threats from the Kremlin almost every day, most recent one were again made against our friends in the Baltic countries,” Pistorius said.
It is worthy of note that Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly pointed out NATO's promise not to expand eastward, not even for an inch, but reality showed the opposite. Moscow is not going to fight either with Europe or NATO, Putin assured. At the same time, the number of NATO troops in Eastern and Central Europe has been growing, he noted.
Putin also called US President Joe Biden's assertions about Russia's interest in a possible war with NATO complete nonsense.
"I think that President Biden understands this too, this is just a figure of speech in order to justify his erroneous policy in the Russian direction,” Putin said.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg also called on the alliance to prepare for many years of confrontation with Russia. At the same time, he could not predict how long the confrontation could last as the North Atlantic Alliance "is always looking for opportunities to return to a situation where there is room for better relations.”