NATO official warns West of possible “all-out war” with Russia

As NATO gears up for its most significant military operation since the Cold War, the sobering forecast of potential conflict between the alliance and Russia has emerged. Admiral Rob Bauer, NATO’s Dutch Military Committee chief and naval officer, cautioned, “the West should be prepared for an all-out war with Russia within the next 20 years.”

NATO announced next week’s drill ‘Operation Steadfast Defender’ which is intended to assess the allies’ readiness for direct conflict with Russia. Approximately 90,000 NATO troops will participate in the bloc’s most extensive military exercise in decades.

These military drills – which will last several months, from the Atlantic to NATO’s eastern flank – should take the form of a conflict scenario against an “adversary of comparable size”, according to the alliance’s terminology.

Bauer called for a reassessment of perspectives, citing the continued invasion of Ukraine by Russia since 2022, “an era in which anything can happen at any time, an era in which we need to expect the unexpected, an era in which we need to focus on effectiveness in order to be fully effective”.

Bauer made these statements amid a backdrop of political disputes in both the United States and the European Union, where the provision of military aid to Ukraine is currently delayed or constrained. Despite these challenges, Bauer affirmed NATO’s ongoing commitment to support Ukraine.

The Admiral commended Sweden for advising its citizens to prepare for war before the nation officially joined the military alliance. An address delivered by the civil defence minister resulted in a significant increase in the enrolment of individuals into voluntary defence organisations.

The UK’s Defence Secretary Grant Shapps announced that Britain is set to dispatch 20,000 troops to participate in NATO’s exercises in Eastern Europe. RAF, army and navy personnel will be deployed from February to June and Britain will also send surveillance planes and fighter jets.

Last week, Belarus announced taking steps to amend a doctrine to allow for the use of nuclear weapons. Belarusian Defence minister Viktor Khrenin stated “The deployment of tactical nuclear weapons on the territory of the Republic of Belarus is considered an important measure of the preventive deterrence for potential adversaries from unleashing armed aggression against the Republic of Belarus”.

Last year, Finland joined NATO as its 31st member state, bringing a considerable European military force into the alliance, and simultaneously extending NATO’s collective defence to a nation with an 830-mile border with Russia.

The Kremlin accuse Western powers of violating a commitment made in the 1990s not to enlarge NATO eastwards, using NATO’s expansion as a basis for the invasion of Ukraine and claiming NATO, a mutual-defence alliance, to be increasingly on the offense.

Last month, Russian president Vladimir Putin had said “Russia has no reason, no interest – no geopolitical interest, neither economic, political nor military – to fight with NATO countries.”