Land operations
eastern gates Guarding Nato’s
After Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his tanks across the Ukrainian border, Moscow’s aggression has driven Nato even closer together. With the very real threat of a Russian invasion of
Eastern Europe once more on the agenda, there has never been a more pressing time for Nato member states to ensure they are prepared to deter and, if necessary, defend their territory. Tallha Abdulrazaq speaks to Major General Veiko-Vello Palm of the Estonian Defence Forces to understand the current state of play, and what Nato needs to do next to secure its eastern fl ank.
I
n the past few decades, there have always been recurring concerns that Nato was being undermined and pulled apart at the seams by a resurgent Russia. The military alliance, established to keep the Soviet bear from spreading communism by force of arms, had grown in strength gradually throughout the Cold War. After all, an attack on one would be deemed as an attack on all, triggering a global military, and potentially nuclear, response – the mere threat of which successfully kept the war decidedly in frosty temperatures, forcing the belligerents to engage in proxy wars instead.
However, since the end of the Cold War with the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, and the emergence of the US as the preeminent global power in a newly unipolar world, the reason for Nato’s existence changed. With the Soviets no longer threatening the global order, the military alliance grew to include some former countries of the Warsaw Pact – the USSR’s doomed answer to Nato – and continued to expand. By way of illustration, the most recent member to join was North Macedonia in 2020. But the Kremlin is no longer the beaten adversary it once was. Under the leadership of President Vladimir
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Defence & Security Systems International /
www.defence-and-security.com Defence & Security Systems International /
www.defence-and-security.com
Bennian/
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Bennian/
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