Russia should never imagine that it can win a war with NATO or one of the pact's member states, warned Bundeswehr chief Carsten Breuer in a speech to senior German military officials in Berlin today, quoted by Reuters, BTA reported.
"We must learn lessons from the war in Ukraine, adapt them to our conditions and develop our own corresponding concepts and structures, because the war in Ukraine is our teacher," Breuer said, adding that Moscow expected a quick victory when it invaded the neighboring country in 2022.
"We must prevent a repetition of such a miscalculation by Russia. Moscow should never imagine it can win a war with NATO or even a single member state," said Germany's top military officer.
Russia has the capacity for a limited attack on NATO territory at any time, but the decision to take such action will depend on the position of Western allies, another senior German general warned.
"If we look at Russia's current capabilities and combat power, it could launch a limited attack on NATO territory tomorrow," Lieutenant General Alexander Zolfranc told Reuters in an interview.
"A small, quick, regionally limited attack, nothing big - Russia is too involved in Ukraine for that," said Zolfranc, who heads Germany's joint operational command and is responsible for defense planning. He also reiterated NATO warnings that Russia could launch a major attack on the alliance as early as 2029 if it continues to build up its defense capabilities.
In a statement from his headquarters, located in a large barracks in northern Berlin, Zolfranc said that despite the setbacks in Ukraine, Russia's air force retained significant combat power and its nuclear and missile forces remained intact.
While Russia's Black Sea Fleet had suffered significant losses, other Russian fleets remained unaffected, he said.
"The ground forces are suffering losses, but Russia says its goal is to increase its total troop strength to 1.5 million soldiers," Zolfranc said, adding: "Russia has enough main battle tanks to be able to launch a limited attack tomorrow.".
The general did not say whether such an attack was planned currently.
Sollfranc has led Germany's Joint Operational Command since its creation in 2024, Reuters reported.
The general said Moscow's decision whether to attack NATO would be determined by three factors: Russia's military strength, its military successes and its leaders.
"These three factors lead me to the conclusion that a Russian attack is within the realm of possibility. Whether that happens or not depends largely on our own behavior," he added, hinting at NATO's deterrence efforts.
The general noted that Moscow's hybrid tactics, including drone strikes, should be seen as interconnected elements of a strategy that also includes the war in Ukraine.
"The Russians call this non-linear warfare. In their doctrine, it is a war before resorting to conventional weapons. And they threaten to use nuclear weapons, which is a war by threats,” Zolfrank said.
Russia’s goal, he said, is both to provoke NATO and to gauge the alliance’s response in order to “foster insecurity, sow fear, inflict damage, spy on and test” its resilience.