NATO is “working out” a strategy for armed confrontation with Russia, a close ally of Vladimir Putin has claimed, as the alliance launched war-games in Finland.
Nikolai Patrushev, Secretary of the Russian Security Council, was commenting on Nordic Response 24, involving 10,000 ground troops from the UK, USA, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, and Sweden.
The drills form part of Steadfast Defender in 2024, which runs from January 22 to May 31, and which is the biggest military exercise since the end of the Cold War. Patrushev was speaking at a security meeting in Ingushetia, a Russian republic located in the North Caucasus.
In remarks attributed to him by state-aligned broadcaster RIA, he said: “The destructive role of the United States in recent history is obvious.
“No other country has unleashed so many wars and military conflicts, or provoked so many destructive economic crises.”
Referring to the drills in Finland, which was confirmed as a member of NATO earlier this year, he added: “An important instrument of Washington’s influence on other states is the aggressive NATO bloc, which has come very close to Russia’s western borders.
Over the 75 years of its existence, NATO, as the supposed guarantor of peace and democracy, has unleashed more than a hundred wars and military conflicts around the world – and is preparing for the next.
Patrushev claimed the “the ongoing exercises of the joint NATO armed forces in Europe called Steadfast Defender 2024, during which the scenario of armed confrontation with Russia is being worked out, will certainly increase tension and destabilise the situation in the world”.
He continued: “There are plans to further expand NATO’s presence in the Asia-Pacific region and the Arctic.
“In 2024, expenditures for military purposes envisaged by NATO countries continue to grow, which once again emphasises the growing aggressive nature of this alliance.”
Patrushev, who has in the past accused the West of trying to “liquidate Russian statehood”, is sometimes touted as a possible successor to Putin as Russian President.
Speaking to Express.co.uk in August 2022, ex-CIA case officer Robert Baer, who highlighted his concerns about Putin in his book The Fourth Man, singled out the 72-year-old as the man most likely to step into the breach should Putin be toppled as President.
He explained: He said: “Russia’s a police state, the FSB controlling everything. And he’s the puppet master.”
Speaking last month, Brigadier Tron Strand, Royal Norwegian Air Force, Commander of the Norwegian Air Operations Centre, said: ”We need to be able to fight back and stop anyone who tries to challenge our borders, values and democracy – with the current security situation in Europe, the exercise is extremely relevant and more important than ever before.
“We all need to know the terrain and conditions we operate in. This is fresh knowledge that we need to practise regularly.
He added: “Exercise Cold Response has a long history and takes place in Northern Norway every other year. Thanks to the NATO accession of Finland – and eventually Sweden – we are now expanding the exercise to a Nordic Response with wider participation from other Allies.”
