NATO has warned that the West must prepare for war with Russia ahead of the military exercises across Europe which will see 90,000 troops prepare for conflict.
Dutch Admiral Rob Bauer, chairman of the NATO military committee said that civilians across all of Europe including the UK must prepare and be ready for war, as this will change our lives.
He said the Armed Forces across Europe are already preparing for an outbreak of war and that citizens should also do the same.
Admiral Bauer said, “We have to realise it’s not a given that we are in peace. And that’s why we [NATO forces] are preparing for a conflict with Russia.”
“But the discussion is much wider. It is also the industrial base and also the people that have to understand they play a role.”
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The top NATO commander said that Sweden did the right thing by ordering their citizens to prepare for an outbreak of war.
Admiral Bauer said that is “starts there.
“The realisation that not everything is plannable and not everything is going to be hunky dory in the next 20 years,” or even far less as some experts are warning.
He added that NATO must be on high alert for an outbreak of war, and we must “expect the unexpected.”
He continued, “In order to be fully effective, also in the future, we need a warfighting transformation of NATO.”
The German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius has warned that in less than a decade NATO could be at war with Russia.
Speaking to the German outlet Der Tagesspiegel Pistorius said on Friday, “Our experts expect a period of five to eight years in which this could be possible.
“We hear threats from the Kremlin almost every day, so we have to take into account that Vladimir Putin might even attack a NATO country one day.”
He added, “one thing is certain – we are dealing with a military threat situation in Europe that has not existed for 30 years.
“We see it through Russia’s attack on Ukraine. We hear threats from the Kremlin almost every day – most recently against our friends in the Baltics.”
He was asked whether the German government could do more to help Ukraine, he said that Berlin is the “second largest supporter of military aid after the USA, and therefore the largest in Europe.”
He added, “If Putin wins this war and occupies Ukraine, the danger for the alliance’s territory will of course also increase.”
Dutch Admiral Rob Bauer warned, “We have to realise it’s not a given that we are in peace.”
Next week NATO are set to launch their largest military exercises in decades which will see around 90,000 troops taking part in wargames called Steadfast Defender 24.
The exercises will last until the end May which will simulate an “emerging conflict” scenario involving 31 nations that makes up NATO.
The military exercises will “show that NATO can conduct and sustain complex multi-domain operations over several months, across thousands of kilometres, from the high north to central and eastern Europe, and in any condition.”
NATO describes the exercises as a “simulated emerging conflict scenario with a near-peer adversary.”
