On Thursday, NATO said it was holding its largest exercise since the Cold War so U.S. forces could practice strengthening their European ally neighboring Russia in the event of a conflict. Around 90,000 soldiers are said to be involved.
“These exercises are another element of the hybrid war waged by the West against Russia,” Gruško said in a statement.
He added that an exercise of this scale “marks NATO’s final and irreversible return to Cold War patterns, when the military planning process, resources and infrastructure are prepared for a confrontation with Russia,” Reuters reports .
NATO did not mention Russia by name in its statement on Thursday, but the alliance’s main strategic document defines Russia as the most direct threat to the security of NATO member states.
Following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has repeatedly accused the West, which supports Ukraine financially and militarily, of waging a “hybrid war” against Russia.
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2024-01-21 10:04:38
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