NATO needs major drills to show Russia there is still juice in the old raisin

NATO needs to hold major military exercises to review strategies and views on modern-day armed conflicts, military expert, reserve lieutenant general Aitech Bizhev told Pravda.Ru.

NATO wants to keep everyone on their toes, the expert believes. The alliance helps Ukraine in every possible way, but there is no success from such actions. Against the backdrop of these mistakes, NATO wants to surround Russia along the perimeter of the former Soviet Union, including with the help of the Baltic countries.

"Combat actions have demonstrated NATO's military incapabilities and it is about time the alliance should revise something within its structures. After these exercises NATO will revise its strategies and views. Another goal is to threaten Russia in the light of these events, I think. They haven't succeeded in anything, so they need to show that there is some juice in the old raisin left, that the organisation is still powerful and capable of influencing the balance of power in the world,” Bizhev told Pravda.Ru.

At the same time, NATO is not going to enter into open confrontation with Russia. The alliance needs Steadfast Defender military exercises (to be held in 2024) to test its own forces and assets, because the Russian Federation has acquired a lot of high-precision weapons, the expert pointed out.

NATO will pay special attention to air combat during the upcoming drills because it is air superiority that leads to victory in modern conflicts.

Steadfast Defender war games will take place in 2024. More than 50 ships and approximately 41,000 military personnel will be involved in the drills and up to 700 sorties will be carried out. The war games will take place in Germany, Poland and the Baltics in February and March as part of a new training strategy that will see the alliance holding two major exercises each year.

The purpose of the exercises is to simulate potential manoeuvres against alleged Russian aggression, The Financial Times said. Sweden will also take part in the drills bringing the total number of countries involved to 32.