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News > Russia

Russian Warns of Mounting Threats to Its Security

  • In response to NATO's buildup near Russia's borders, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu revealed how many military units will be formed in the Western Military District during a recent panel.

    In response to NATO's buildup near Russia's borders, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu revealed how many military units will be formed in the Western Military District during a recent panel. | Photo: Twitter @RussiaNewsroom

Published 20 May 2022
Opinion

By the end of this year, Russia will establish 12 new military units in the Western Military District to face the growing threat from the NATO and the United States, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said.
 

At a meeting of the National Defense Management Center in Moscow on Friday, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said that the United States and NATO have gradually increased their activities along Russia’s western borders over the past few years and tensions continue to grow. 

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Apart from the intensification of strategic activities, the U.S.-led NATO bloc has also gradually increased training exercises near Russia’s borders, Shoigu pointed out. He referred to a series of exercises called ‘Defender of Europe’,  which involve up to 40,000 military personnel from 30 countries of the bloc. Redeployment of a full-fledged division force from the U.S. to Europe has become the main feature of the drills, he added.

"Therefore, tensions continue to grow in the zone of responsibility of the Western Military District. We are taking appropriate countermeasures", Shoigu expressed.

“Over the past eight years, the intensity of US strategic bomber flights in Europe has increased some 15 times”, Shoigu stated. “Visits of American ships armed with guided missiles to the Baltic Sea have become a systematic occurrence. This year alone, they have visited suspected cruise missile launch zones off the coast of Kaliningrad Region six times already. Since 2016, 24 such events have been detected”.

The minister also referred to Russia´s “immediate neighbors”, Finland and Sweden, which have formally applied for NATO membership, further contributing to the growing tensions. The two Nordic nations lodged their bids this week, faced with the opposition from Turkey, a major NATO nation. 

In the midst of the special military operation that Russia is carrying out in Ukraine, the expansion of NATO and the alliance’s military buildup in Eastern Europe has been reinvigorated. Apart from Sweden and Finland seeking to join the bloc, Poland has expressed a readiness to build “permanent” military installations to house “light infantry units” of the alliance. 

Moreover, the three Baltic nations, Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia, are reportedly pushing for the creation of a rapid-deployment, division-sized force of some 20,000 troops. The unit would be placed on standby and be ready for deployment into any of the countries should they face a threat of any sort.

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