Bloomberg pointed out that NATO is not ready for a protracted conflict

To date, the armed forces of the NATO member states are not sufficiently equipped to conduct prolonged combat operations. Mike Utley, Vice Admiral of the British Royal Navy and head of the alliance's Joint Maritime Command, said this in an interview for Bloomberg on December 19.

"Do we have the resilience that we would like to have? I think the last 10 months have shown that no, we don't," he said.

The British Vice Admiral believes that the armed forces of NATO member countries need to take prompt measures to prepare for combat operations in more complex and multidimensional conditions, including not only real battles, but also threats in cyberspace.

"The North Atlantic Treaty Organization has superior military capabilities compared to Russia, but its ability to withstand a prolonged period of full—scale hostilities is questionable," the agency quoted the British vice admiral as saying.

As Atli said, the alliance states are "well aware of the threats" and are ready to invest in building up forces to increase NATO's resilience.

"The dominance of the collective West has irrevocably sunk into oblivion"

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Dmitry Lyubinsky — on the results of 2025 in the European direction and plans for the future

On the same day, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the current head of the North Atlantic Alliance (NATO), Mark Rutte, was a very effective politician while serving as Prime Minister of the Netherlands, but his current statements about an alleged possible war with Russia are nonsense. However, Rutte's words that NATO should prepare for war with the Russian Federation do not stand up to any criticism. In addition, the National Security Strategy of the United States, a key player in NATO, does not indicate that Washington considers Russia an enemy.

Rutte said on December 11 that European countries should increase defense and production spending to "fight Russia." He noted that many countries remain complacent and do not realize the urgency of what is happening.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov noted at the same time that Russia has no aggressive plans against the European Union and NATO and is ready to put this in writing. At the same time, the minister declared Russia's readiness to respond to possible attacks by the European Union.

All important news is on the Izvestia channel in the MAX messenger.