Mr. Putin signed a new military decree, is Russia preparing for war with NATO? 0
(Dan Tri) – Analysts say that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s new military decrees are a sign that Moscow may be preparing for a large-scale conflict with NATO.
Russian President Vladimir Putin (Photo: Reuters).
President Vladimir Putin on February 26 signed a decree reorganizing the Russian military structure.
Western Military District, headquartered in St.
The need to re-establish the Moscow and Leningrad Military District was first mentioned by Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu in December 2022.
Russia has long viewed the expansion of its presence eastward by the US-led military coalition as a threat to national security.
President Putin’s decree also brought four regions annexed from Ukraine (Kherson, Zaporizhia, Lugansk, Donetsk) into Russia’s Southern Military District.
Up to now, Russia has not been able to completely control these four provinces.
`The inclusion of both controlled and uncontrolled areas of Ukrainian territory further shows that Russia maintains maximum objectives in Ukraine and seeks to completely annex all five territories (including Crimea)
Meanwhile, according to ISW, the re-establishment of the Moscow and Leningrad Military Districts will `support the parallel goals of consolidating control of Russia’s activities in Ukraine in the short to medium term, while preparing
Russian military analyst Yury Fedorov once commented that the rebuilding of the Leningrad military district shows that Russia is preparing for a possible conflict with the Baltic countries and NATO.
The Leningrad Military District, located near new NATO member Finland and the Baltic states, is a key component of the Russian armed forces, tasked with overseeing part of the national defense strategy in the western region.
Recently, Western officials have begun to worry about the prospect of Russia winning in Ukraine and possibly attacking NATO territory.
Bild newspaper reported last month that the German Ministry of Defense is planning actions for a situation where Russia attacks a NATO country after its victory in Ukraine.
On February 26, the French President announced that Europe needs to prepare for a possible Russian attack in the coming years and needs to make more efforts to support Ukraine.
On the Russian side, President Vladimir Putin and Vice Chairman of the Security Council Dmitry Medvedev affirmed that Moscow has no plans to launch a conflict with NATO or European Union (EU) countries even when the West continuously
On the other hand, Mr. Medvedev stated that if a full-scale conflict breaks out between Russia and NATO, Moscow will have no other choice but to deploy nuclear weapons.
The above warnings were issued in the context that Russia is gaining the upper hand on the Ukrainian battlefield.
