James Appathurai, NATO’s Under-Secretary-General for Innovation, Hybrid and Cyber Threats, warned that an unconventional attack from Russia could cause significant damage. He added that “the alliance must determine what its tolerance level is and what form of aggression Moscow should respond to.”
NATO’s under-secretary for innovation, hybrid and cyber threats told Sky News that Russia’s hybrid attacks, which have increased in frequency to “totally acceptable” levels five years ago, are putting NATO in a “frog” mode.
– The alliance must determine what is the limit of its tolerance and what form of Moscow’s aggression should result in its response, including the use of military force, – he explains in an interview with British television.
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There is a “real risk” of an irregular attack by Russia
Sky News reports that his interlocutor is currently working with his team to revise NATO’s strategy on hybrid attacks, so that member states of the alliance understand what kind of violence they face in the “grey zone” in response.
Appathurai warns that there is a “real risk” of an unprovoked Russian attack on NATO, which could result in large numbers of deaths or significant economic losses.
With a Russian submarine Sergey Mykhailisenko/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
The Deputy Secretary General of NATO, in response to the question whether a hybrid attack could reach such a scale that it would force NATO to use Article 5 of the treaty and start a “collective response”: – What worries me is that one such attack will turn into a terrorist attack. large-scale progress.
Appathurai’s team will provide the Alliance with a strategy that will allow it to understand, prevent and respond to “hybrid warfare.” The last time such plans were modernized in 2015, when the threat was comparatively less – writes Sky News.
The strategy is due to be approved at a NATO summit in 2025, when it will decide how the Alliance can best implement its policy of deterring this form of aggression without escalating into conflict.
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Risk of sabotage of critical infrastructure
In September, during the training exercises of NATO countries in Portugal, Appathurai told reporters that the most serious threat from Russia is the destruction of the important infrastructure of NATO countries, which is located at the bottom of the seas.
– The Russians used the so-called underwater research program to map our critical infrastructure. This program is very well funded, (…) the Russians attach great importance to it, he said later.
According to NATO data, 99 percent of the world’s data is transmitted through the global network of submarine cables. About $10 trillion in financial transactions pass through these vast networks of cables every day. In addition to data cables, critical underground infrastructure also includes power cables and oil and gas pipelines.
Main photo credit: Mikhail Tereshchenko/EPA/PAP
