Putin intends to escalate Russia's military buildup whatever NATO does

Author: NEWSWEEK

May 17, 2016 at 19:53

These moves will spur the Kremlin, with some fanfare, to announce military “countermeasures.”

This article was first published on the Order F-rom Chaos blog of the Brookings Institution site. When NATO leaders gather in Warsaw, Poland, July 8–9, they will announce steps to beef up the alliance’s conventional force presence on its eastern flank. NATO also will shortly announce that the SM-3 missile defense site in Romania has achieved operational status. These moves will spur the Kremlin, with some fanfare, to announce military “countermeasures.” But those will be steps that Moscow almost certainly intends to take in any case. Russia’s military buildup, its illegal seizure and annexation of Crimea and support for armed separatism in eastern Ukraine have caused NATO to focus more intently ...