As the war in Ukraine shows no signs of abating, Russia is bolstering its western flank while NATO focuses on its eastern border.
President Putin has given orders to strengthen the West’s defences.
As Russian forces continue to fight in the streets of Kiev, attempting to crush Ukrainian forces and arsenals of massive gas and ammunition supplied by NATO, President Putin is said to have called on the Russian military to improve its defences in western Ukraine.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday that Putin had asked Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu to direct the army to improve the defenses on the western flank.
President Putin ordered this even before NATO forces announced that they would be deploying a larger military presence on the alliance’s eastern flank.
Peskov said that General Shoigu is now expected to make specific proposals to the Russian president on strengthening the western border.
In addition, there were particularly disturbing recent comments from Mr. Peskov that the Russian Federation could feel compelled to use tactical nuclear weapons if it were to face a “threat. exist”.
Although the details of “an existential threat” may not be specific, NATO’s expansion to the east was a factor that prompted Russia’s decision to conduct a special military operation. particularly in Ukraine and could lead Russia to act more radically,.
NATO strengthens the eastern flank
Earlier this week, NATO announced that four combat groups would be deployed to the eastern flank, bordering Ukraine, to bolster support for Ukrainian fighters in Kiev. Earlier, NATO members began transferring Patriot anti-aircraft missiles to Slovakia to strengthen their defenses on the eastern flank of the military alliance.
Although not sending troops to Ukraine to support combat, NATO continues to actively provide important resources, supplies, ammunition and weapons to Ukraine.
NATO head Jens Stoltenberg said after a meeting in Brussels on Thursday that Russia’s entry into Ukraine has changed NATO’s security environment in the long term.
“It’s a new reality, a new normal, and NATO is responding,” Stoltenberg said.
Following the announcement, NATO forces directed four multinational combat groups, each with up to 1,500 troops, to Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia and Hungary. That means that on NATO’s eastern flank there will be twice as many combat groups based in NATO’s easternmost countries as there were in the past.
Stoltenberg also emphasized to journalists that NATO is improving its preparedness for the use of biological, chemical and nuclear weapons by Russia.
