Washington : In case of a war sparks off in Europe, it will not be possible for NATO to stop Russia. Russia will easily rout the NATO army and take control of the Baltic countries, claimed ‘Rand Corporation’, a US think tank. There was a major reduction in the NATO and Russian defence strengths after the Cold war. But Russia was able to rapidly increase its military strength, the think tank pointed out.
Only last month, the ‘Munich Security Conference’ report had warned about a possibility of an accidental conflict between Europe and Russia. The report of the US think tank becomes important against this background. The report named ‘Assessing the Conventional Force Imbalance in Europe’ observes the changes in the military strengths of the NATO and Russia in the post cold war period.
The report primarily focuses on the preparedness and strength of the NATO in the Baltic countries adjacent to the Russia border. Over the past decade, Russia has stressed on increasing its military strength and has adopted a policy to use it for aggressive military purposes. The report clearly warns that keeping this policy in view Russia can easily take control of the Baltic countries and attain its goal, in case of a conflict in that region.
Russia has put stress on modernising the defence forces and has maintained a rapid pace. At the same time, Russia has also taken necessary steps to adopt new arms systems and to increase its deployment . The report of the US think tank also claims that while making large deployments along the border, Russia has made preparations for the security of the internal sectors. Large army contingent deployments and adoption of latest arms are the highlights of the Russian armed forces as per the report.
After Russia took over Crimea, the NATO started concentrating on its defence strengths. The NATO has taken steps towards war preparedness by stressing on building the ‘European Battalions’ and deployment of the US military units. The US think tank warns that this preparation by the NATO cannot match the Russian capability.
Considering the Baltic region, Russia has deployed 78,000 soldiers as against hardly 32,000 of NATO, as per the report. The report expresses concern that Russia can press into action 750 tanks whereas NATO has only 129 tanks for its defence.
Meanwhile, it was revealed that Russia has deployed Iskander missiles capable of carrying a nuclear warhead, on a permanent basis at its Kaliningrad base. It has been warned that this deployment brings half of Europe in the range of these missiles.
(Courtesy: www.newscast-pratyaksha.com)
