Russia's military resurgence: NATO warns of renewed threat
Russia will need about a decade to rebuild its army after the war in Ukraine, western military officials and experts believe. One of the commanders does not exclude that within a few years, Russia will have the strength and resources to attack NATO territory.
- "The point here is when you think they [Russians] are down, they will come roaring back to get their vengeance," said Gen. Roland Walker, the new Chief of the General Staff of the British Army, at a conference at the Royal United Services Institute.
The commander of the British Army, Admiral Tony Radakin, believes that Russia will take a long time to recover after the war.
- "Our assessments are that it will take Putin five years to reconstitute the Russian army to where it was in February 2022," he said. Another five years will be needed to ""rectify the weaknesses that the war has revealed," he added.
Will the war economy bear fruit?
Other military officials are concerned about Russia's technological development. At the very beginning of the war, Ukrainians had the advantage, for example, in the use of drones. The roles have reversed, and Russia has redirected forces to a war economy.
- "Their industry produces around 1,000 to 1,500 tanks annually. The five largest European NATO countries have only half that amount in their arsenals," said Bundeswehr commander Gen. Carsten Breuer in an interview with "Tagesspiegel." He argues that within "5-8 years," Moscow will have sufficient resources to attack NATO territory.
However, Ukrainians argue that these estimates of producing over a thousand tanks are untrue. Some of them are old machines that are being refurbished or modernized. They point out that this can be seen at the front, where older and older machines are appearing.
