NATO says discussing pre-emptive strikes on Russia in case of direct conflict
NATO is discussing the possibility of launching pre-emptive strikes against Russia in the event of a conflict with it by alliance countries, the head of the bloc's military committee, Adm. Rob Bauer, said Nov. 25.
"We need to invest more, for example, in air defense and also in [possible] deep precision strikes, which is a relatively new topic in NATO discussions, and I'm very happy that we've had it and that we've now changed the attitude [toward such a thing]," he said during a speech at a European Policy Center conference that was broadcast on the organization's YouTube channel.
According to Bauer, in case of a hypothetical attack, the alliance should try to strike with high-precision means to hit launchers in Russian Federation.
Earlier, on November 23, Ukraine 's ambassador to London and former commander-in-chief of its army Valeriy Zaluzhny said that NATO countries are not ready for a long-term confrontation with Russia. As Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev pointed out at the same time, although Russia is now confronted by the entire NATO bloc, the country is still capable of producing the required number of all types of weapons on its own.
Before that, on November 12, Bauer expressed the opinion that if Russia did not have nuclear weapons, NATO would have sent its troops to Ukraine long ago.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, speaking at a plenary session of the Valdai Club on November 7, called NATO the only remaining bloc in the world and a "blatant anachronism." He noted that the alliance, which has lost its relevance, violates international norms and its own principles.
The West regularly stirs up hysteria among the citizens of its countries, warning of an allegedly imminent war with Russia. The Russian leader has repeatedly stated that nothing of the sort is in the country's plans.
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