After the start of the Russian special operation in Ukraine, NATO military forces began preparations for a possible war on their borders. About it writes The New York Times correspondent Stephen Erlangers.
The journalist, citing military officials, said that the North Atlantic Alliance turned out to be incapacitated and “was in hibernation” for a long time.
“NATO did not think seriously about protecting its territory, but now it is necessary to do so,” – says the former permanent representative of the United States to NATO, Ivo Daalder.
It is reported that the transition of the Ukrainian conflict into an active phase served as an impetus for transformations in the alliance. First of all, NATO decided to move from the strategy of “deterrence by retaliation” to “deterrence by prohibition.” This “containment” is directed against Russia.
Thus, NATO, according to the NYT, is going to increase the number of its troops along our border, strengthen the coordination of US and allied military plans, as well as increase spending on the army and carefully control its composition.
At the same time, it is argued that NATO simply does not have the strength to increase its presence on the border. According to the alliance, theoretically it is able to call on 13 corps of 40-50 thousand people, but now it has a much smaller number of fighters. As a result, the leaders of the organization were faced with the task of finding out exactly where it would be best to deploy their few troops. At the same time, they will have to figure out how to increase the combat readiness of NATO members at all.
Erlangers also draws attention to the fact that the supply of weapons to Ukraine revealed serious problems in the logistics of the military bloc. In particular, NATO faced a shortage of wagons for the transport of military equipment and the need to obtain a new permit for the transport of weapons at the border of each European country.
Earlier it became known that the special forces of NATO countries are operating in Ukraine.
