(Reuters) – The scale of NATO’s Steadfast Defender 2024 workouts mark an “irrevocable return” of the alliance to Cold War schemes, Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko informed the state RIA information company in remarks printed on Sunday.
NATO stated on Thursday it was launching its largest train for the reason that Cold War involving some 90,000 troops, rehearsing how US troops might reinforce European allies in international locations bordering Russia and on the alliance’s japanese flank if a battle have been to flare up with a “near-peer” “adversary.”
“These workouts are one other ingredient of the hybrid battle unleashed by the West in opposition to Russia,” Grushko informed RIA.
“An train of this scale…marks the ultimate and irrevocable return of NATO to the Cold War schemes, when the army planning course of, assets and infrastructure are being ready for confrontation with Russia.”
NATO didn’t point out Russia by title in its announcement. But its prime strategic doc identifies Russia as essentially the most vital and direct risk to NATO members’ safety.
Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 in what Kyiv and its Western allies have stated was an unprovoked imperialistic land seize.
Moscow, and its chief diplomat Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, have since typically accused “the collective West” of conducting a “hybrid battle” in opposition to Russia by backing Ukraine by way of monetary and army assist.