 | Unleash yourself and shop our special collection of tees and accessories for you and your pooch. From our sponsors |
| Kavkazcenter.com |
| Latest events from Kavkaz-Center |
Nato 'unprepared' for Russia threat, say MPs
7/31/2014 12:42:40 PM
Pro-Russian militants sit on a tank in Donetsk, eastern Ukraine Pro-Russian militants in Ukraine. The MPs warned about the use of irregular militias, reports BBC News.
Nato is poorly prepared for an attack on a member state from Russia, an influential group of MPs has warned.
The Commons Defence Committee said the recent Ukraine conflict showed "serious deficiencies" in Nato's preparedness to counter threats - and "radical reform" was needed.
The MPs said the risk of a conventional assault remained low - but warned over methods such as cyber-attacks and the use of irregular militias.
Nato said it would study the findings.
The committee called for changes including:
- Establishing a continuous presence of Nato troops and military equipment in "vulnerable" Baltic states, including Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania
- Adding unconventional threats such as irregular militia and cyber-attacks to Nato's Article 5 commitment for all members to come to the aid of a member which is attacked
- "Dramatic" improvements to existing rapid reaction forces.
- Large-scale exercises involving military and political leaders from all Nato states
The MPs also warned Nato "may not have the collective political will to take concerted action to deter attack".
And they said public opinion may not support the use of military force to honour Article 5 commitments in a confrontation with Russia.
"Nato is currently not well-prepared for a Russian threat against a Nato member state," the report said.
"A Russian unconventional attack, using asymmetric tactics - the latest term for this is 'ambiguous warfare' - designed to slip below Nato's response threshold, would be particularly difficult to counter."
Defence Select Committee chair Rory Stewart and Defence Secretary Michael Fallon discuss Russia's threat to Nato member states
Tory MP Rory Stewart, who was elected chairman of the committee in May, said: "The risk of attack by Russia on a Nato member state, whilst still small, is significant. We are not convinced that Nato is ready for this threat.
"Nato has been too complacent about the threat from Russia, and it is not well-prepared.
"Even worse, the nature of Russian tactics is changing fast - including cyber-attacks, information warfare, and the backing of irregular 'separatist groups', combining armed civilians with Russian Special Forces operating without insignia," said Mr Stewart, a former soldier and diplomat who has worked in the Balkans, Afghanistan and Iraq.
"We have already seen how these tactics have been deployed by Russia and its proxies in Ukraine to destabilise a Nato partner state, annex part of its territory and paralyse its ability to respond."
Typhoon jets have already taken part in exercises in eastern Europe
The report said that while Nato had not seen Russia as a territorial threat for 20 years, recent events meant it was "forced to do so".
"Events in Ukraine this year, following on from the cyber attack on Estonia in 2007 and the invasion of Georgia by Russia in 2008, are a 'wake-up call' for Nato", it read.
"They have revealed alarming deficiencies in the state of Nato preparedness, which will be tough to fix."
The committee also called on the government to show leadership when it hosts a Nato summit in Wales in September.
The report added: "The UK government should take the lead in ensuring that the Nato summit addresses these threats in the most concrete and systematic fashion."
Department of Monitoring
Kavkaz Center
You are receiving this email because you subscribed to this feed at feedmyinbox.com
If you no longer wish to receive these emails, you can unsubscribe from this feed, or manage all your subscriptions
No comments:
Post a Comment