NATO must be ready to respond and counter Russia's Oreshnik threat — Admiral Vandier

Admiral Pierre Vandier, NATO's Transformation Commander, said this in an interview with Defense News.

Pierre Vandier noted that the Alliance needs to be able to reciprocate with Russia.

“Stability is the ability to reciprocate. If Russia has means to strike Europe at the depth of 2,000 km, you need to be able to answer. Deterrence is a way to put pressure on the enemy before it comes to you. He has to think of the consequences of his actions before he commits them. It’s exactly the opposite that we see today – today we witness a sort of fait accompli all the time,” he said.

Pierre Vandier believes that Europe won't be able to get rid of the threat by creating something like the Israeli Iron Dome, given its size.

The admiral added that over the past four to five years, most of the stabilization measures that emerged after the Cold War have ceased to work. One of the biggest was the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF), from which the United States and Russia withdrew.

• Russian leader Vladimir Putin said that on November 21, Russia tested a medium-range ballistic missile Oreshnik during an attack on Ukraine's Dnipro. He added that Moscow would “respond to escalation.”
• On December 26, Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko announced his readiness to deploy up to 10 Oreshnik missile systems in Belarus.