NATO is not ready for war with Russia, warned a British general.
Allies have supported Ukraine with arms and financial assistance since the beginning of the Russian invasion, but are careful to avoid any action that could involve them in the war.
General Sir Richard Barnes, Head of the Joint Forces Command 2013-16, was asked during a hearing on the UK Parliamentary Defense Committee on Tuesday at which point NATO would have no choice but to fight Russia.
He said NATO “will have to call” if Russian forces manage to reverse their fate and threaten larger parts of Ukraine than are targeted by the new eastern offensive. “And this call would have been easier if we had prepared at all to act in these circumstances with the necessary speed, and we did not,” he said.
“The second aspect would be that whatever happens in Ukraine causes President Putin to escalate it for his own purposes in other parts of NATO. Then this is a much easier question, because we will be dealing with a breach of Article 5 [Nato’s mutual defence pact]”
He continued: “My common concern in answering this question is that the main reason we want to avoid a war between Russia and NATO is that NATO is not ready. And we should be ashamed of that. “
At the NATO summit in Madrid in June, the priority should be “restoring the balance of power with Russia” in terms of military capability, so that Moscow “no longer thinks it can set the conditions for a debate with NATO,” he said. he.
As important as the build-up of forces is, it is vital that these forces and military equipment be deployed in the right areas of NATO, he said.
In recent days, Russia has hit targets in eastern Ukraine, including the Lisichansk oil refinery
(Reuters)
Tobias Eloud, chairman of the defense committee, asked the general if Britain had the necessary defense systems to defend itself in the event of a Russian attack. General Barnes replied, “We absolutely do not.”
He also said: “I don’t think many people in the UK have thought about the consequences of Russian cruise missiles arriving in London … they exist and we just don’t have the means to deal with them in any small numbers. . “
And if Britain had to defend another NATO country from Russia – the example was Estonia – its forces would be destroyed in “about a week” by the Russian air force, he said.
Britain outlined plans to update its armed forces in last year’s Integrated Security Review. These include exceeding NATO’s commitment to spend 2% of GDP on defense annually, removing the upper limit on the UK’s nuclear arsenal and creating a National Cyber Force to protect against hackers.
General Barnes said the plans were insufficient to deal with the security situation facing Britain in the coming years. He warned that tensions with Russia could continue for a century.
He suggested that Britain follow Germany’s example with a short-term boost in defense spending. Days after Russia invaded Ukraine, Germany announced 100 billion euros (83 billion British pounds) for a new military fund.
The government must consider raising military spending to 3% over the next five years to “revive” the UK’s armed forces, he said.
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