Prague, June 20 (CTK) – A large-scale Russian aggression is not on the order of the day, but it cannot be ruled out that in the Baltics, Russia will use a scenario similar to those in Crimea and eastern Ukraine, Petr Pavel, Czech Chairman of the NATO Military Committee, told journalists yesterday.
The alliance is not thinking of deploying any major armed forces in the Baltics or its eastern border, Pavel said.
This does not correspond with the valid agreement with Russia or alliance principles, he added.
“The alliance is stressing that the measures it takes will be adequate with the situation and will always have a defensive character,” Pavel said.
“It is not NATO’s objective to create any military barrier to a large-scale Russian aggression because such an aggression is not on the order of the day and all intelligence assessments do not indicate such a thing,” Pavel said.
On the other hand, it cannot be ruled out that in order to destabilise some Baltic countries, Russia may use a similar scenario as those in Crimea and eastern Ukraine, he added.
“Rather, we are speaking about what we call a hybrid threat,” Pavel said.
The deployment of four international battalions in the Baltics and Poland was intended for determent of a possible activity, Pavel said.
This is to be a political rather than military determent, he added.
Further threats are posed by extremism, terrorism and weak and unstable countries to the south of the NATO border with which a migrant wave is associated, Pavel said.
“Not military interventions and military solutions, but a thorough solution involving military, internal, economic and other spheres are the best way with which to deal with the problems of the south,” Pavel said.
For this, intensive cooperation between NATO and the EU will be needed.
A number of “packages” for individual countries of the region are being prepared. They are to create their own capabilities, Pavel said.
“At present, one such a package is being prepared for Iraq, another is for Jordan, another for Tunisia. Others may follow,” he added.
These are chances of possible training operations in which both NATO and the EU will take part, Pavel said.
