Europe is still not in a position to defend itself from Russia despite years of warnings, experts have warned.
America’s chief military strategist, Elbridge Colby, told European defence ministers today that Nato countries need to increase their budgets to lessen dependency on the US.
The sobering warning was issued as Russian covert attacks and sabotage increased across Europe.
‘Now it’s time to march out together, to be pragmatic, we have a really strong basis for working together in partnership, for a Nato based on partnership rather than dependency,’ Colby said.
It’s the latest push to make European Nato members less reliant on the US for defence measures.
Trump already unveiled plans to reduce the number of troops on the eastern flank – but is Europe in any position to defend itself if the US were to withdraw troops completely?
Keir Giles, a Russian expert at Chatham House, told Metro: ‘Europe is not in a position to replace the United States in terms of defence, and it will take some time to do so, even if it were to start applying effort in a way we haven’t seen so far.’
If the United States opts to make a sudden withdrawal of military support, rather than a more ‘sensible’ phasing out, Europe would be severely lacking in defensive capabilities, which could leave it open to an attack.
He adds: ‘To preserve European security, Europe simply needs to be more powerful than Russia in key areas that would deter Moscow. The entirety of Europe is a frontline area as far as Russia is concerned.’
Russian-born UK citizen and former BBC journalist Sergei Cristo told Metro there are hard military components NATO needs to improve, but pointed out that Europe is not doing enough to battle Russian hybrid warfare.
‘Russian military strategy is currently based on the Gerasimov Doctrine, which basically says that “concealed means of war”- which include political interference, taking control of hostile countries through intelligence operations, and interference in elections – are more important than military action,’ Cristo said.
‘Personally, I don’t think Nato is ready,’ he added.
Cristo told Metro how a few years ago, he spoke to a source in the Lithuanian government who revealed the country was preparing for war with Russia in 2026.
‘Well, now it is 2026, and it was only last year that the European Union was talking about buying arms. They are a long way behind, and while the EU is now working with Nato on European defence, it clearly isn’t there yet,’ he added.
Cristo said he believes Russian political interference in Britain and across Europe will escalate in the next two years, as Russia tries to ‘neutralise’ Western governments by helping far-right populists take office.
‘This is something the security services and institutional capacity have not yet been realigned to face effectively,’ he added.
‘MI5 and the police are scared stiff of investigating political movements or parties for historical reasons. You can see this in the way MI5 is currently focusing on Russian sabotage.
‘To me, this reflects a successful Russian tactic of diverting resources through destructive tactics. They are distracting our strategy away from political interference and onto something else.’
Russian interference in Europe
An investigation has documented details of Vladimir Putin’s ‘hybrid war’, which has been increasing in frequency and severity.
From explosives placed on railway tracks to exploding DHL parcels and warehouse fires, chaos has been unleashed by the Kremlin, which still denies any involvement.
A senior European intelligence official told AP: ‘It’s a 24/7 operation between all the services to stop it.’
The investigation comes after the new head of MI6 warned that the front line with Russia is ‘everywhere’.
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