NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Europe, General Alexis Grinkevich, has said that Russia "is not seeking conflict", despite concerns among European allies about potential security gaps created by Washington's plans to withdraw key military forces, the Financial Times reported, quoted by BTA.
Asked about the possibility of a Russian attack on the Baltic states, General Grinkevich said his role was to ensure that NATO's deterrent remained credible and that Moscow understood that it could not achieve military success against the alliance.
"I follow the intelligence very closely", said Gen. Grinkevich during a panel at the ILA air show in Berlin. "Russia is not looking for conflict... They understand the term "defensive alliance" and they understand that we have a number of asymmetric advantages."
That assessment contrasts with growing concerns in the Baltic states that a reduced U.S. military presence could weaken NATO's deterrent and change Moscow's calculations.
Grinkevich, who also heads U.S. European Command, said his "job" was to ensure that "Russia understands that if they try something in the Baltics, they won't succeed. Because they know they won't succeed, they won't take the risk of something like that."
He added: "When people ask me, 'Are you ready to fight tonight?' I say, 'Absolutely.'"
According to the German newspaper Der Welt, among the US military forces that could be withdrawn are a US aircraft carrier strike group and all submarines capable of launching cruise missiles, as well as a number of Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft, aerial refueling aircraft and F-16 and F-15E fighter jets.
The cuts are part of a broader effort by President Donald Trump to shift US resources to Asia and the Western Hemisphere. Washington has already announced plans to withdraw 5,000 troops from Germany and cancel the deployment of a long-range artillery battalion that was scheduled to arrive in the country later this year.
"This is a series of air and sea capabilities that we, the United States, need in the event of a problem in the Pacific," Grinkiewicz said, confirming the cuts for the first time.
As NATO commander, he said he was currently developing contingency plans "for what we might have under certain conditions or what we might not have," he said.
"In the short term, we need to focus on things that we can acquire quickly, deploy quickly, scale quickly and sustain over time. And that goes for long-range firepower.”
Last week, Vladimir Putin dismissed fears in Europe that Russia would attack NATO countries as “nonsense.” “This is a deliberate provocation to create a threat that doesn’t really exist and to make the people of their countries spend more money on defense,” he said. “This is just absurd. It would be funny if it weren’t so sad.”
Grinkevich, who is involved in U.S.-brokered talks to broker a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine, said Ukrainian forces “are certainly behaving with dignity” on the battlefield.
“The Ukrainians are doing quite well,” he said. “When the Russians advance, their progress is minimal, and this results in extremely high losses for Russia. The fronts are relatively stable."