NATO may strike Russian command posts and air defense systems in Kaliningrad, near St. Petersburg and in Belarus if Russia attacks an Alliance country. This is part of a plan to deter a possible attack on the eastern flank, presented by NATO's Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, General Alexus Grinkevich, at a forum in Warsaw.
According to information from the Financial Times, quoted in the submitted material, Grinkevich warned that NATO is ready to respond to any threat. The American general said that allies should not wait for the enemy to consolidate their positions, but should stop the attack at the very beginning.
“I do not believe that conflict is inevitable. This is not true. I want to assure the billions of citizens of our alliance: we can do it. We know what we need to do, we know how to do it“, said Grinkevich.Plan with drones and ground robots
The strategy envisages investments in “affordable mass developments“ on the model of the relatively cheap Ukrainian drones. The idea is for unmanned aerial vehicles, sensors and ground robots to take on a significant part of the initial repulsion of the Russian offensive and limit losses among NATO servicemen.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the plan includes the creation of a large “autonomous zone“ in which drones and ground robots would operate against advancing forces. The long-range missiles are intended to strike command centers and air defenses in areas that could support a possible Russian operation.
„Blocking, blunting, and breaking“
The American publication Stars and Stripes described the strategy in three consecutive actions: blocking the attack, blunting the offensive, and breaking the military system that supports it. This includes supply lines, communications, command structures, and reserves.
„We do not seek to inflict a strategic defeat on our enemy. Rather, we should just stop any attack in its tracks,“ Grinkevich emphasized. According to him, NATO must be able to deliver a sufficiently strong response without turning the defense of an allied country into an attempt at a wider war with Russia.
In a separate statement, quoted by Reuters, the general said that the Alliance would stop any attack and deprive the enemy of the opportunity to achieve its goals. However, he clarified that he did not assess a conflict as "imminent or inevitable."
The presented plan is conditional and refers to a scenario in which Russia attacks a NATO country. Grinkevich's words do not imply that a decision has been made on upcoming strikes or that a military operation against Russian or Belarusian targets is being launched.
Sources: focus-news.net, investing.com, stripes.com