On Monday, Nato’s leader Mark Rutte said that Vladimir Putin may look to launch an attack on the alliance within five years, but Sir James Everard, Nato’s former Deputy Supreme Allied Commander and a current senior adviser to the alliance, has told The i Paper he feared the Russian leader may move earlier and attempt a quick “land grab” while the alliance forces are depleted.
Asked why Rutte indicated Russia’s readiness to attack would be further down the line, Sir James who advises Nato commanders as they prepare for operations, replied: “You can apply a timeline for a Russian attack based on any number of metrics.
With a long and distinguished military career, Sir James Everard went on to serve as Nato’s Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe until 2021 (Photo: MoD)In his speech, Rutte outlined the need to “make our alliance stronger, fairer and more lethal” in order to defend against Russia’s capacity to rearm and threaten alliance countries in the near future.
Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesperson, responded to Rutte’s remarks saying that Nato “is demonstrating itself as an instrument of aggression and confrontation”.
Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte giving a speech at Chatham House, London (Photo: Yui Mok/PA Wire)He told The i Paper: “It’s good like any military plan to take the extreme end of the scenario but you’ve got to look at capabilities; how is the Russian army going to reconstitute, how fast? What type of Russian army will emerge from Ukraine? A Soviet army or something different?
Jamie Shea, former Nato Deputy Assistant Secretary General for Emerging Security Challenges (Photo: Nato)He said: “I think Nato has to pay just as much attention to its quick reaction capabilities to because Putin will probe bit by bit, salami-style, than launch a big attack out of the blue.
John Foreman, the UK’s defence attache to Moscow until 2022 said he understood comments that Putin might attack Nato but did not think the Russian leader was poised to launch an immediate attack against the alliance.
Tensions between Nato and Moscow have been rapidly increasing since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
A British Army Archer Mobile Howitzer gun fires near Rovaniemi in the Arctic Circle, Finland, during an exercise last year. (Photo: Ben Birchall/PA Wire)The warnings come just weeks before a Nato summit in The Hague where US President Donald Trump is expected to press European countries to commit to greater defence spending.
He told The i Paper: “Addressing this fact will require significant uplift in European defence spending, and getting better outcomes from what is collectively spent.
“The argument Rutte was making this week is that for Russia to be deterred, NATO member states must communicate their collective resolve and demonstrate the seriousness of their commitment to sufficiently fund and coordinate their collective defence.”
After a meeting of Nato defence ministers in Brussels last week, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said he was encouraged by the discussion and that there was “almost near consensus” on a 5% commitment from NATO members.
The Ministry of Defence was approached for a comment.
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