russia may be militarily ready to attack NATO countries in five to eight years, if it decides to do so, once it recovers its forces damaged by the war in Ukraine. Inspector General of the German Armed Forces, Lieutenant General Carsten Breuer said this during a visit to Poland, reports UNN citing Reuters.
"By then, according to our analysis, Russia will have rebuilt its forces to the point where an attack on NATO territory would be possible," Breuer said.
"I'm not saying it's going to happen, but that it's possible," he said late Wednesday night.
The publication notes that Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 triggered the deepest crisis in Moscow's relations with the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.
But moscow regularly dismisses Western suggestions that it might consider an attack on NATO as utter nonsense. russian dictator vladimir putin confirmed last month that russia has no plans to attack any NATO country, although he said it would shoot down any F-16 fighter jets supplied by the West to Ukraine.
Of the 32 NATO members, six European countries border russia: Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland.
"We see that Russia is producing a lot of military equipment and not sending all this equipment to the front lines in Ukraine ... so by 2029 we have to be ready," said Breuer, Germany's defense chief.
What we see is a threat in five to eight years.