17:05 28.09.2024

NATO Military Committee Chairman Bauer: Putin's latest statements intimidating Ukraine's partners indicate his disappointment in course of war

4 min read
NATO Military Committee Chairman Bauer: Putin's latest statements intimidating Ukraine's partners indicate his disappointment in course of war

NATO Military Committee Chairman, Admiral Rob Bauer believes that Vladimir Putin's latest statements about revising the nuclear deterrence doctrine, in which he intimidates countries supporting Ukraine, are caused by the failure to achieve the strategic goals of the war he started against Ukraine.

In an exclusive interview with Interfax-Ukraine, he commented on Putin's words that the updated version of the nuclear deterrence doctrine proposes to consider aggression against Russia by any non-nuclear state, but with the assistance of a nuclear state or support of a nuclear state, as a joint attack on Russia, and this will apply to missiles, drones, and aircraft.

"We've seen a lot of messaging from Russia over the last two and half years that not necessarily always has been followed up by action. Putin has drawn some red lines before and they were in the end not red lines. But it doesn't mean that you don't have to take this very seriously," Bauer said.

"If I listen to this and if I connect it to the fact that Russia has not achieved any of their strategic objectives in this war – they wanted to take over a Kyiv within five days, they wanted to topple the government and basically they wanted to use Ukraine with a puppet regime – none of these objectives have been achieved. So I think the Russians are in many ways very frustrated and they are concerned by the fact that they are not able to achieve those objectives," he said.

Bauer said the Russians see how Ukraine "sometimes with and sometimes without the help of 50 nations that support them can attack Russia more and more often and very successfully." "Just last week there was a successful attack on a huge weapon depot where missiles were stored and also the oil refineries. And now Ukraine is attacking deeper and deeper into Russia with weapons systems produced now in Ukraine. So I think it is a sign of frustration from the Russians if they come with this sort of language talking about nuclear," the NATO Military Committee Chairman said.

At the same time, Bauer said Ukraine's attacks on Russia are in line with international law: self-defense does not stop at the borders. "You can attack the nation that attacked you to weaken its ability to continue the fight against you. That is military logic and it is in accordance with the law of armed conflict. Now whether the nations that give weapons agree to that is another thing and it is also part of reality that nations that have those concerns can put restrictions on the use of the weapons systems. I do understand that Ukraine is trying to convince the leaders that put restrictions on those weapon systems to lift it," he said.

The NATO Military Committee Chairman also recalled that Putin says that countries supporting Ukraine are participants in the war. "We are not part of the war. What we do is in in line with the UN charter: we assist the nation that is busy defending itself against an aggressor," he said.

"Russia is the aggressor; they invaded Ukraine, a sovereign state with international recognized borders, and violated all the international rules. If I would follow the argumentation of the Russians that means that actually China, North Korea, and Iran are part of the war as well. So I think Putin's reasoning is uncomfortable at least for China. The bottom line is: Russia is conducting an illegal war. We are supporting Ukraine in a legal way because Ukraine is defending itself against an illegal invasion," Bauer said.

At the same time, he again noted the importance of continuing to support Ukraine. "It's extremely important that we continue to support Ukraine because this is not only about your sovereignty and the ability to remain a free and sovereign nation but this is also about protection of the rules-based international order. The Russians broke those rules. If we allow that to lead to success from their side then that will have much more consequences than only for Ukraine which in it in itself is bad enough but the world is not in a better place if the Russians win this war," Bauer said.

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