Will Russia attack 1 of the NATO states? Experts shall specify the date

If there is simply a ceasefire in Ukraine this year, Russia can rebuild its army in 2027 and invade another European countries, including NATO countries," the British paper “Times” quoted on May 15, quoting the think tank study of the global Institute of strategical Studies (IISS).

According to IISS experts, Russia's leader Vladimir Putin put his country “on the warpath” and could put NATO's commitment to complying with Article 5, which says that the attack on any Alliance state is being treated as an attack on the another associate States. London based think tank analysts inform that Putin may attack 1 of the Baltic states in just the next 2 years.

Billion of dollars to defend EU countries

The IISS estimated the amount of defence spending that European leaders would gotta bear in the event that U.S. president Donald Trump fulfilled his threat of withdrawing American NATO support. This cost in 25 years would be about $1 trillion.

Experts foretell that NATO members would gotta acquisition at least 400 fighters and 20 destroyers to be able to counter the Russian attack. Moreover, the States of the Alliance should appoint 128 000 soldiers to be armed to replace US troops.

You can't number on the U.S.?

"European allies can no longer presume that the United States will supply the essential military support to defend the continent from Russian aggression," wrote the report. It was recalled that just before the NATO summit, which will take place on 24-25 June in The Hague, Trump questioned Washington's readiness to defend allies. He demanded that all NATO members rise defence spending to 5% of GDP.

Russia is expanding its military spending

The IISS study is based on the presumption that in 2025 there will be a ceasefire ending the war in Ukraine and the withdrawal of US troops from Europe, and Washington will focus on the threat from China in the Indo-Pacific region.

Experts pointed out that Putin had allocated 7.5% of GDP to the armed forces this year, which, in their opinion, could lead to "a fast reconstruction of Russian armed forces, which should not be underestimated".

The IISS recommends in its study that, given the possible threat, European countries must increase military investment to the "cold war" level, so that defence expenditure accounts for more than 3% of GDP on average.

At the same time, analysts stressed that European arms companies would have difficulties re-arming NATO's air forces and navy in the next 10 years due to insufficient industrial potential.

Source: tvp.info