NATO is considering a “preemptive strike“ against Russia in response to hybrid attacks, Admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone, the head of NATO's Military Committee, told the Financial Times.
“We are considering acting more aggressively and preventively, rather than reacting“, Dragone said.
Some diplomats, especially from Eastern European countries, are calling on the alliance to stop simply “reacting” and instead strike back.
According to the admiral, the “preemptive strike“ can be considered a “defensive action“.
“However, this goes beyond our usual way of thinking and behaving“, he noted. “Maybe we should act more aggressively than our opponent. The questions are about the legal framework, about jurisdiction: who will do this?“, he added, however.
The newspaper mentions NATO's Baltic Sentry mission, which patrols the Baltic Sea and has prevented a recurrence of cable-cutting incidents. “Since the very beginning of Operation “Baltic Sentry“ nothing has happened. This means that deterrence is working“, Dragone believes.
However, he admitted that one of the problems is that NATO countries have “much more constraints than our opponents, due to ethics, laws and jurisdiction“. "I don't want to say that this is a losing position, but it is more complicated than that of our opponent," he noted. "We need to analyze in depth how deterrence is achieved - through retaliatory action or through a preemptive strike?", the admiral concluded.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said that "all NATO countries are at war with Russia." Speaking about drone incidents in European countries, Putin said that Russia does not have drones "that can reach Lisbon." Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov called the accusations against Russia "groundless."