War with NATO not impossible, says Russian general

A top Russian general warned today that war with a Nato member was not out of the question and that such a conflict would be disastrous for Russia.

“It is impossible to completely exclude the possibility of a war with some Nato state, but for Russia, a war with Nato would be deadly,” Colonel General Yuri Baluyevsky, the deputy head of the Russian General Staff, told a government newspaper

The statement echoed the negative tone Nato officials have recently noted from the Russian Defence Ministry in spite of the closer relationship they have established over the past few years.

Earlier his week Nato chief Lord Robertson said that calling the defence alliance a potential threat – as the Russian Defence Ministry did in a recent, widely publicised policy paper – ran contrary to the spirit of partnership between Russia and the alliance.

In a Kremlin meeting yesterday, President Vladimir Putin tried to reassure Lord Robertson that Russia remains committed to deepening the relationship in spite of what he called ”many outstanding problems.”

“We have increasingly been getting a sense of partnership between us and the need for each other,” Putin said.

Baluyevsky said that there was “no comparison” between Russia and Nato in regards to weapons or troop strength, and that the western alliance was only expanding, with the future accession of the three former Soviet republics in the Baltic region.

In contrast to the United States’ €232.6bn defence budget, he said, Russia’s is just €4.4bn.

“We, the military men of Russia, have many questions about the level and point of improving Nato as a military mechanism,” Baluyevsky said.

“Why do Nato and the United States need to develop high-precision weapons? Why do they need to improve … the system of defence and use of weapons of mass destruction?”

Baluyevsky said an American general had told him that in its strategic planning, the Pentagon targets sites in Russia.