Vadim Khludzinsky23:14, 02/14/24

According to Vaidotas Urbelis, the Russian Federation has more strength, military experience, and it is correcting its mistakes.

Russia is now in an advantageous position to attack other European countries – it has more forces, military experience and is correcting its mistakes. Vaidotas Urbelis, director of defense policy at the Lithuanian Ministry of Defense, said this in a comment to  Business Insider .

Despite the setbacks, Russia appears to be better prepared for an upcoming attack than for an invasion of Ukraine, he said.

“Now they have experience in waging large-scale war, which should be considered as part of the planning. If you look just at the numbers, you will see that there are more people in the Russian Armed Forces now than before the invasion,” the military man said.

He suggests that despite the loss of Russian equipment, it will be able to recover quite quickly, so Lithuania should be prepared, since Russia views it and its neighboring regions “as part of its own sphere.”

According to Urbelis, Lithuania should be ready to respond quickly, and not wait until “the NATO mechanism works.” This includes permanently stationing more Alliance troops in the country, increasing defense spending and strengthening border security.

The military man added that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine had strengthened NATO, but called on alliance members to step up their defense efforts.

“As an alliance, I think we are on the right track. But not fast enough,” concluded Urbelis.

(C)UNIAN 2024