Chairman of the NATO Defence Committee Rob Bauer: novynarnia.
During the Prague Defence Summit, held from 8 to 10 November 2024, NATO Defence Committee Chairman Rob Bauer said that if Russia did not possess nuclear weapons, NATO troops could already be in Ukraine, actively fighting to expel Russian aggressors. According to him, it is the Kremlin’s nuclear arsenal that poses serious obstacles to direct military intervention by the Alliance, TimeUkraineIsrael reports, citing Liga.net.
“I am absolutely sure that if the Russians did not have nuclear weapons, we would already be in Ukraine, and we would have kicked them out. But they do have nuclear weapons, and that changes everything,” Bauer said, underlining the main difference between the wars in Afghanistan and Ukraine. These words reflect NATO’s deep concern about the potential consequences of escalating a conflict with a nuclear power.
Bauer’s statement raises important questions for the international community about the limits of military intervention in a situation where the nuclear threat is not just a strategic but also a catastrophic factor. At the same time, according to the official, NATO’s participation in hostilities against Russia cannot be ruled out altogether, although such a prospect risks escalating into a global conflict that would threaten the existence of the Alliance as an organisation.
“When everyone later starts saying that the red line was not valid, the question will arise: why did we not provide these weapons earlier? But making decisions at a time of crisis, when all possible consequences cannot be assessed, makes the situation much more complicated,” he concluded.
