On Wednesday 3 December, NATO Secretary General, Mark Rutte, warned that the Allies would not remain passive in the face of Russian and Belarusian hybrid attacks on the European continent.
“Whether intentional or not, whatever Russia or Belarus do, we will react as we see fit. And these countries will feel it”, promised Mark Rutte at the end of the meeting of NATO foreign affairs ministers. He recalled the words of Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs, Radosław Sikorski, on the sabotage of a railway line in his country by quoting him: “If this happens again, we will take further action (for PURL). Russians, you should know that we will react asymmetrically. We won’t be blowing up any railway lines in Russia. We will make sure that you feel the consequences of such actions”. The Romanian minister, Oana-Silvia Toiu, called for EU sanctions against Belarus because of the latest hybrid attacks using weather balloons on Lithuania.
Stressing that Russia was showing increasingly reckless behaviour towards NATO, Mr Rutte said that incidents required “unfailing vigilance”. “We must continue to respond with strength, unity and determination”, he added.
Several ministers, particularly on the Alliance’s eastern front, had stressed the need for action. “We have to react. We must act firmly and decisively to strengthen our defence and vigilance in the face of the situation in our immediate neighbourhood”, stressed the Lithuanian minister, Kestutis Budrys. Lithuania has asked NATO to send a Counter Hybrid Support Team to the country to analyse the situation.
“NATO’s role must be strengthened, particularly in terms of coordination, sharing of experience and preparation for analysing, preventing and combating these threats. Our main objectives (this Wednesday) concern air defence and, more specifically, ways of increasing our capacity to protect our space against incursions by drones”, added the Romanian minister. “What characterises hybrid (activities) is their complexity and diversity. This is why we believe that better coordination between us, as Allies, is necessary”, she stressed. Oana-Silvia Toiu called for greater investment, arguing that investment in countering hybrid threats is very low compared with the return on investment it offers in terms of deterrence and defence.
“We will see more hybrid attacks. I’m afraid that’s a sign of the times. This is how Russia operates. (...) The best way to prevent them is to guard against them, by developing a solid defence, increasing public vigilance, being resistant to Russian disinformation and reacting quickly to their actions, in order to deter any future attack”, explained the Dutchman David van Weel. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)