Allied leaders must acknowledge the global and comprehensive challenge posed by Russia, and revisit arrangements for NATO’s collective defense and deterrence, NATO PA President Hon. Michael R. Turner argues in a report released today.
The report, entitled “Deterring to Defend: Delivering on NATO’s Promise”, details the many facets and dimensions of Russia’s global strategy – including its illegal occupation of parts of Georgia and Ukraine, nuclear threats against NATO Allies, its intensive propaganda and subversion campaign, and massive investments in military modernization, among others.
It calls on NATO Heads of State and Government at their upcoming meeting in Warsaw on 8-9 July to take the real measure of the challenge posed by Russia, and adapt NATO’s deterrence and defense posture accordingly.
“Russia – as it continually states – is a formidable military power, possessing the full spectrum of conventional and nuclear capabilities. Those capabilities in conjunction with its behavior and rhetoric place it at the forefront of the challenges facing NATO. No other challenge on the horizon raises the spectre of such wholesale destruction. Deterring conflict and Russia’s attempts to reassert its sphere of influence is therefore a central priority”, the report reads.
According to Congressman Turner, priorities for NATO must include: “acknowledge[ing] the nature and extent of the threat posed by Russia; bolster[ing] nuclear deterrence; enhanc[ing] NATO’s forward defense in the East; giv[ing] NATO’s missile defense a new impetus; and continue[ing] efforts to reverse past cuts in defense budgets.”
Congressman Turner will address NATO’s leaders at the Warsaw Summit on behalf of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly.
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