Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – The United States gave a stern warning to Russia not to disturb Uncle Sam’s country or its alliance, NATO. The reason is, NATO is believed to have the power to defeat the Red Bear Country in a landslide.
Secretary of Defense (Menhan) United States (US) Lloyd Austin said Russia would not dare to fight against the NATO defense alliance. This was conveyed by Austin before the DPR Allocation Subcommittee for Defense, Thursday (12/5/2022). At that time, Austin was asked by Republican Representative Harold Rogers of Kentucky about the hypothetical scenario of Russian President Vladimir Putin launching an attack on Poland, which is a member of NATO.
“If Russia decides to attack any country that is a member of NATO, then that is a game changer,” Austin was quoted as saying Newsweekquoted on Saturday (14/5/2022).
“But if you look at Putin’s calculations, my view is that Russia doesn’t want to take a step against the NATO alliance.”
Austin added that NATO has a large troop number, reaching 1.9 million military personnel. The alliance that Washington is patrolling, according to him, also has the most advanced capabilities in the world in terms of aircraft, ships, and the types of weaponry used by ground troops.
“So this is a fight that he (Putin) really doesn’t want to be in and it’s going to quickly escalate into another kind of competition that nobody wants to see.”
Even so, Austin added that currently his party is ready if a major escalation with Russia occurs. He said the Pentagon is always monitoring the situation from day to day.
“We are perfectly capable of responding to any form or mode of escalation if directed by the president.”
Austin’s comments come after Putin and his Kremlin officials threatened NATO and the US in late April. Putin said the NATO and US positions helping Ukraine had interfered with his military offensive. He had promised to give a ‘lightning-fast’ reply to every country that helped Ukraine.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told the state news agency TASS on April 13 that Russia would consider US and NATO vehicles carrying weapons on Ukrainian territory as “legitimate military targets.”
Not only that, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also raised the Western alliance during an interview last April 25, saying, “NATO will basically go to war with Russia through proxy and arming proxy that. War means war.”
Even before Russia began its assault on Ukraine on February 24, Putin made a similar public warning to NATO. Last November, he said his country would respond if NATO crossed a “red line” by providing Ukraine with a specific missile strike system.
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