Military strategists working with NATO fear that in the event of a war with Russia, Europe will not be able to withstand a prolonged war of attrition due to insufficient readiness for combat operations, writes The Guardian, quoted by Focus.
As the publication writes, information about the concerns became known at a conference dedicated to the future of European military coordination, which took place this week in the UK (we are talking about the closed round table European Defense Roundtable, organized by the Munich Security Conference).
The newspaper notes that the pessimism reflects concerns that Russia could win the so-called "hybrid war" with Europe, thereby weakening the options available to NATO military planners in the event of a military conflict.
Another reason for pessimism is the sharp rise in support for right-wing parties in Europe's major military powers. This, in turn, threatens proposals to create an E5 group of five European countries, including Britain, to play a new coordinating role as the United States prepares to reduce its commitment to providing Europe's conventional defense.
A recently elected member of the British government admits that the West has informed “badly” public about the scale of the hybrid conflict with Russia.
According to them, this has left ministers with the unenviable task of convincing unprepared voters to reduce social spending to fund defense.
A second diplomat also notes that the destruction of the Cold War-era dividing line with Russia has allowed Moscow to freely exploit the anxieties of European society on both the left and the right.
"These remarks indicate a wider concern among senior European politicians that they could lose the so-called hybrid war with Russia, and this could influence the rise of right-wing populist sentiment in Poland, France and Italy next year," the British publication writes.