Europe and NATO understand the threat Russia poses. Sweden's defense chief, Michael Klasson, has said Moscow could seize the island of Gotland “at any time” to test NATO's resolve. And Italian Admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone , who chairs NATO's Military Committee, considers Russia enemy number one.
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In an interview with RBC-Ukraine, the admiral stated the need to clearly understand what to expect from the future: “We foresee a further build-up of the Russian military machine. We will counter this by developing our capabilities – that is, everything that we plan to purchase and acquire in the near and long term. And this is directly linked to the nature of the threats. The threats to NATO are, of course, Russia and terrorist groups. We are working in these two areas to act ahead of time.”
When asked by a journalist whether he considered Russia the number one threat, the NATO representative answered in the affirmative, adding that there was no doubt about it. He also mentioned the threat from terrorist groups “that are lurking” – they could become more active.
Answering questions about the short-term or medium-term threats from the Russian Federation directly to Europe, Giuseppe Cavo Dragone said that “hybrid and unconventional” threats are already underway. He does not rule out that the Kremlin will seek to return everything that the USSR possessed before its collapse. According to him, Moscow may encroach not only on the Baltic countries.
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“But we are focused on self-defense, deterrence, and 360-degree protection. We are present in the Arctic, in the East, and are closely monitoring the situation in the South,” the admiral added.
Read the article “Ukraine is an unfinished business”: why Europe remains the main theater of operations for the Russian Federation on our website.
Illustrative photo from open sources
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