Russian Colonel General: Russia-NATO standoff will not end even if conflict in Ukraine is resolved

Russian Colonel General Vladimir Zarudnitsky, the head of the Academy of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, admitted that the conflict in Ukraine could escalate into a full-scale war in Europe.

In an article titled "Trends in changes in the system of ensuring the military security of the state in the conditions of the new geopolitical map of the world” for Military Thought Magazine, the general said that the end of the special military operation in Ukraine would not end the confrontation between Russia and the West.

The reasons for the crisis in relations between Russia and the West are not related to the start of the special military operation in Ukraine. They have deeper roots, Zarudnitsky noted. The process of this confrontation was launched as NATO started expanding eastwards, the general explained.

"The policy of strangling Russia will last for a long time. Today's confrontation is much sharper than the 20th century Cold War. The West aims not only to contain, but to destroy the Russian state in its current form,” Zarudnitsky wrote in his article.

The conflict in Ukraine is not developing into a direct military confrontation with NATO only because Russia has a powerful nuclear potential, he adeed.

The article also states that further developments are difficult to predict, but the conflict in Ukraine may indeed escalate into something bigger — from the expansion of proxy forces used for military confrontation with Russia to a large-scale war in Europe.

The situation in the regions that are of strategic importance for Russia is no less complex, the general said. Their conflict potential could lead to Russia being drawn into new armed clashes, he noted.

"The main task is to ensure that the military security system is adequate to the new military-political and strategic situation and the new status of Russia,” Zarudnitsky concluded.