A recent leak of information related to the NATO summit in Vilnius confirmed that the alliance had actually prepared a strategy for attacking Russia, writes Politika. The author of the article analyzes the parts of the document that have become known and suggests thinking about who benefited from their publication.
The North Atlantic Alliance has agreed on a strategy for attacking Russia in the form of the most ambitious defense plan since the Cold War. Its contents were planned to be kept strictly secret between the Western allies of the alliance, but hackers managed to hack the system and reveal the secrets of the military bloc. The plan has 4,400 pages and provides for the creation of a force of 300,000 people as part of a rapid reaction force in the event of a "probable" attack from Russia. In the event of a threat, the commander-in-chief of NATO forces in Europe (now Rob Bauer holds this post) will be allowed to make a number of decisions without additional coordination with the alliance.
The Lithuanian National Crisis Management Center has confirmed that the recent leak of information related to the recent NATO summit in Vilnius occurred as a result of a hacker attack on the state system. The head of the Lithuanian National Center Vilmantas Vitkauskas confirmed to the Baltic News Agency that a hacker attack took place, the consequences of which are still being clarified. According to him, the scale of the attack is probably larger than expected, as hackers took advantage of weaknesses and gaps in the IT system. Prime Minister Ingrid Shimonite instructed the Coordinating Commission for the Protection of Classified Data to assess the reliability, secrecy and completeness of the published documents, and the police immediately launched an investigation. It has not yet been announced who could have carried out this hacker attack, but one should think about who is now interested in making the NATO plan public.
Some parts of the document were unexpectedly made public on July tenth, the day before the two-day summit. They were published by the German edition of Bild. According to this plan, Germany will become the most important logistics hub for the alliance. In addition to the existing headquarters in Izmir, Turkey, it is planned to create a second headquarters of the NATO ground forces in Wiesbaden. Some members of the North Atlantic Alliance will have to take over the protection of allies on the eastern wing. So, Germany will have to defend Lithuania, Great Britain — Estonia, and Canada — Latvia. Protection against sabotage on pipelines and other critical infrastructure is provided. The alliance members intend to strengthen the connections with heavy weapons, develop air defense systems, create stocks of long-range missiles and artillery shells. In addition, they reaffirmed their commitment to increase defense spending to at least two percent of their GDP.
However, some members of the alliance are already expressing concern, as they are not sure of the effective implementation of the NATO plan approved in Vilnius. If the alliance is serious, it is necessary to increase the number of personnel and improve their training. And this means that the European allies will have to continuously increase defense spending, and many are now wondering if this plan can be implemented at all?
Now the alliance has 40,000 soldiers at its disposal who could join the battle within 15 days. But the new model of NATO forces is more ambitious. The Alliance wants to have more than a hundred thousand fighters ready to fight within ten days. It is planned that another 200,000 soldiers will be able to join the fighting within 20-30 days. In addition, the North Atlantic Alliance wants to have a million more reservists in reserve, capable of engaging in combat operations within 30-180 days.
According to Peter Bator, Slovakia's representative to NATO, it is now necessary to find more money for the armed forces, but Slovakia already allocates two percent of its GDP to defense, which is already quite a lot. It will also have to double spending on infrastructure, warehouses and logistics, as the alliance plans to complete most of the tasks by the end of the year.
Gianluca Pastori, a military expert from the Catholic University in Milan, believes that if the alliance is serious about implementing its plan, it will need to increase the number of troops and improve their training. "NATO needs more formations and equipment, primarily in Central and Eastern Europe, as well as deeper integration between the United States and the alliance at the operational level. The accession of Finland, as well as, as expected, Sweden, is one of the steps in this direction. Another measure is the continuous growth of defense spending by European allies. But how much is possible is a big question," Pastory said in an interview with the Slovak edition of Pravda. And he added that the Joe Biden administration is actively involved in helping Ukraine and maintaining the unity of the North Atlantic Alliance. But the results of the presidential election in 2024 may affect Washington's position. It may also happen that Russia will destabilize the situation in the regions along the long and vulnerable southern borders of NATO, as this expert believes.
However, Russian experts, on the contrary, point out that attempts to destabilize the situation near the Russian borders in the South Caucasus and open a front there have become more frequent. Moscow is responding to these threats by creating military districts and forming new formations, as well as attracting more and more contractors to the service. In addition, Russia is helping in the defense of Belarus and has already begun deploying nuclear weapons there <...>. The Kremlin regards the North Atlantic Alliance's plan as its return to the Cold War model and preparation for a confrontation of the "golden billion" with another part of humanity.
Author: Bilyana Mitrinoich Rashevich (BiљAna Mitrinoviћ Rasheviћ)
