(Dan Tri) – The Commander of the Finnish Armed Forces believes that it is difficult for Russia to directly attack a NATO member country at the present time.
Russian forces in Ukraine (Photo: Tass).
General Janne Jaakkola, commander of the Finnish Armed Forces, said on May 2 that activating NATO’s Article 5, which stipulates collective defense in the event of an attack on NATO, `is always possible.`
Article 5 of NATO’s collective defense stipulates that any attack or threat against one of the bloc’s members will be considered an attack and a threat to the entire alliance.
The Finnish general noted that Moscow is currently too busy preparing for a new summer offensive campaign in Ukraine to consider attacking NATO.
However, he warned, Russia is likely to continue coordinated attacks on European countries in the form of GPS jamming, affecting operations and facilitating illegal migration.
`Russia’s goal is that they want to cause as much division in Europe as possible, so that our unity and cohesion is a little weaker,` said General Jaakkola.
Previously, Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski warned in April that a Russian attack on any NATO country would definitely lead to Moscow’s defeat.
According to the Polish diplomat, Russia has just over 1.3 million soldiers after the first mobilization in September 2022.
In addition, the nominal GDP of NATO and EU countries is more than 45,000 billion USD, while that of Russia and Belarus is only 2,200 billion USD, which is 20 times less.
Recently, some Western officials said that Russia could attack NATO countries within the next 5-8 years if it wins in Ukraine.
The US-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said that there are currently some signs that Russia is preparing for a major conflict with NATO, including increasing the scale of defense production.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has denied these speculations.
On the other hand, Moscow also warned of the risk of widespread conflict due to the West’s continued arms aid to Kiev or the growing threat from NATO to Russia.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov warned that Moscow would consider nuclear weapons deployed by foreign countries in Poland as its main military target.
Polish President Andrzej Duda said the country is ready to receive US nuclear weapons in the context of escalating hostilities between Russia and Ukraine.