NATO-Russia communication plunges – Supreme Allied Commander Europe

The present-day communication between NATO and Moscow is worse than what the sides had during the Cold War, Curtis Scaparrotti, U.S. Army Gen. and Supreme Allied Commander Europe, believes.

“During the Cold War, we understood each other’s signals. We talked. I’m concerned that we don’t know them as well today,” he said in the recent interview with Associated Press.

As NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe, Scaparrotti has had only two meetings with Gen. Valery Gerasimov, Chief of Russia’s General Staff, he said. However, the top NATO commander in Europe has a number of phone conversations with him.

According to Scaparrotti, if adversaries know each other’s capabilities and intentions, they are less likely to fall into conflict.

So, I think we should have more communication with Russia. It would ensure that we understand each other and why we are doing what we’re doing,” AP quotes the top military official as saying.

On March 5, when making a statement at the session of the U.S. Senate’s Committee on Armed Service, Scaparrotti stressed the need to strengthen the combat power of the United States in order to effectively counter the Russian military threat in Europe. The General urged Washington to increase its military contingent in the region.

“A revisionist Russia is the primary threat to a stable Euro-Atlantic security environment. Russia has invaded Ukraine, occupied Crimea, launched cyber-attacks against the Baltic States and Ukraine, interfered in U.S. and other Western elections, and attacked Ukrainian navy vessels 3 attempting to transit the Kerch Strait to Ukrainian ports in the Sea of Azov. Given Moscow’s demonstrated willingness to violate international law and legally binding treaties, and to exercise malign influence, Russia threatens the United States’ vital national interests in preserving a Europe that is whole, free, and at peace,” he said.

belsat.eu, following Associated Press

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