Above photo: Embassy of Russia.
‘Extremely irresponsible.’
NATO accuses Russia of targeting Europe with ‘hybrid warfare.’
Moscow condemned on 1 December comments made by NATO’s most senior military officer, threatening that Brussels might conduct a possible “pre-emptive strike” against Russia.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova called the remarks “an extremely irresponsible step, indicating the alliance’s readiness to continue moving towards escalation.”
“We see in it a deliberate attempt to undermine efforts to overcome the Ukrainian crisis,” Zakharova said.
“The people making such statements should be aware of the risks and possible consequences, including for the alliance members themselves.”
Admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone told the Financial Times (FT) on Monday that NATO could respond to Moscow’s “hybrid warfare” with a “pre-emptive strike.”
“We are studying everything … On cyber, we are kind of reactive. Being more aggressive or being proactive instead of reactive is something that we are thinking about,” Dragone told FT.
Dragone claimed a pre-emptive strike could be considered a “defensive action” in response to what he claims is a string of “hybrid incidents” allegedly carried out by Russia in recent years.
According to the Kyiv Independent, this encompasses cyberattacks and sabotage of infrastructure, including in the Baltic Sea.
In September 2022, several underwater explosions destroyed large parts of the Nord Stream Pipeline, cutting off Russian gas to Germany.
The US and NATO blamed Russia for destroying its own pipeline. However, subsequent investigations have suggested the US, Ukraine, and Poland may have sabotaged the pipeline to punish Russia for its invasion of Ukraine and to increase US sales of liquid natural gas to Europe.
Recently, European countries, including Belgium, Denmark, Germany, and Poland, have claimed to observe Russian drones flying in their airspace, prompting them to halt air traffic in some cases temporarily. Governments of these countries have used the alleged flights to call for expanded military spending.
Russia’s ambassador to Denmark has denied Russian involvement in the drone flights, calling them “a staged provocation” designed to spark a military confrontation.
Russian President Vladimir Putin also rejected such claims by joking, “I’ll stop, I won’t send any more drones to France, Denmark, Copenhagen. Where else have they been flying?”
