Russia’s new military reforms respond to potential NATO expansion and the use of Kyiv by “Western groups” to wage a mixed war against Russia, said the person responsible for Russia’s military operations in Ukraine. said the newly appointed general.
Valery Gerasimov also acknowledged the issue of military mobilization in his first public comment since being appointed to the post on 11 January.
Military reforms announced in mid-January have been approved by Russian President Vladimir Putin and can be adjusted to address threats to Russia’s security, Gerasimov said late Monday. In a statement, he told news website Argumenty i Fakty.
“Today, such threats include the North Atlantic Alliance’s ambitions of expansion into Finland and Sweden and the use of Ukraine as a tool to wage a hybrid war against our country,” the general staff of the military said.
Finland and Sweden applied to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization last year after Russia invaded Ukraine.
Moscow’s new military plan will add troops to Karelia, Russia’s northern region, which borders Finland.
The reform also calls for the two military districts of Moscow and Leningrad, which existed before their merger in 2010, to become part of the Western Military District.
In Ukraine, Russia plans to add three motorized rifle divisions as part of combined arms formations in the Kherson and Zaporizhia regions, which Moscow claims it annexed in September.
“The main goal of this work is to ensure the guaranteed protection of our country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Gerasimov said.
Gerasimov added that modern Russia has never seen “the intensity of military hostilities” that would force it to carry out aggressive operations to stabilize the situation.
“Our country and its armed forces today act against the whole West,” said Gerasimov.
Eleven months after invading Ukraine, Russia has shifted its war rhetoric from operations to “de-naz” and “demilitarize” its neighbors to an increasingly insistent defense against aggressive Western powers. It’s here.
Kyiv and its Western allies have called it an act of aggression without reason, and the West is sending increasingly heavy weapons to Ukraine to help it resist Russian forces.
The US and Germany announced Wednesday that they would arm Ukraine with dozens of tanks in a fight against Russia.