Diplomats and officials stated that the NATO Defense Minister will pass several strategic documents and agree on a new master plan on Thursday (October 21) to withstand any potential mixed Russian attacks.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters before the meeting on Wednesday that the conflict “is not only carried out through cartridges and bombs, but also includes bytes and big data.”
The secrecy strategy goes beyond existing regional defense and deterrence plans. It aims to prepare for any simultaneous attacks in the Baltic and Black Sea regions, which may include coordinated nuclear weapons and cyber attacks from space.
In the past few years, NATO has added networks and space to its traditional air, land, and sea areas, which shows that people are increasingly worried that such attacks may not happen.
In June, it also decided that a series of cyber attacks could trigger the coalition’s mutual defense clause, just like in the case of armed attacks.
These previous steps will now be translated into a new defense plan that will reorganize the scope of responsibility (AOR) of the NATO Commander-in-Chief for Europe (SACEUR).
The next step will be to develop a new defense plan for the entire Euro-Atlantic region, based on the “graded response plan” developed for the east wing after Russia invaded Crimea.
At that time, the so-called “green men”, the Russian special forces without the national emblem, put the peninsula under Moscow’s control with the support of a large number of misleadingly reported propaganda activities.
According to Western officials, in May this year, Russia assembled about 100,000 soldiers on the border with Ukraine, the highest number since Moscow annexed Crimea in 2014.
In September, Russia used a new type of combat robot in a large-scale military exercise with Belarus, its former Soviet alliance ally, which shocked the Baltic allies.
As Russia upgrades or replaces the Soviet military space system to possibly attack satellites in orbit, and develops artificial intelligence-based technologies to disrupt the Allied command system, Moscow is also developing “super weapons.”
They were unveiled in 2018 and include nuclear-capable hypersonic cruise missiles that can evade early warning systems.
Another part of the meeting will include discussions on nuclear deterrence in the so-called nuclear planning group, which all member states except France belong to.
“NATO’s goal is a world without nuclear weapons, but we don’t believe in unilateral disarmament,” Stoltenberg said in Brussels.
He added: “A world in which other countries such as Russia, China and North Korea have nuclear weapons but NATO does not have it is not a safer world at all.”
Russia denies any war-like intentions and stated that it is NATO that may destabilize Europe through such preparations.
According to diplomats, NATO’s latest move was carried out in a tit-for-tat confrontation.
Moscow said earlier this week that after NATO expelled eight Russians for espionage earlier this month, it would cease the activities of its NATO missions and NATO diplomatic missions in Moscow.
“NATO’s policy remains consistent, and we remain open to dialogue, including through the NATO Russia Council,” NATO’s Stoltenberg told reporters in Brussels.
“At the same time, we will continue to evaluate how to further strengthen our deterrence and defense: we will ensure that we have the correct plans, capabilities and strength to protect our country,” he said, referring to Russia’s recent addition of its missiles Development of libraries and hypersonic systems.
