NATO RETURNS TO FORWARD DEFENCE FROM RUSSIA
NATO RETURNS TO FORWARD DEFENCE FROM RUSSIA

Author(s): Artur Kacprzyk
Subject(s): Politics, Security and defense, Military policy, Russian Aggression against Ukraine
Published by: PISM Polski Instytut Spraw Międzynarodowych
Keywords: Russia; war; conflict; NATO; defence; policy;
Summary/Abstract: Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 sealed the return of collective defence as NATO’s main task. For two and half decades after the Cold War, NATO neglected capabilities for defence of its territory while focusing on smaller crisis-management operations beyond the Alliance’s borders and against much weaker opponents (including in Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Libya). It took the Russian attack against Ukraine in 2014 to prompt NATO to stop overall cuts to defence budgets and forces in Europe and enhance deterrence and defence against Russia. Actions taken since then have facilitated the Allies’ immediate response to the recent invasion of Ukraine in the form of a swift increase in the presence of air, land, and maritime forces in the eastern part of NATO. Decisions on the main ways to strengthen deterrence of Russia in the long term were then made at the NATO summit in Madrid in June 2022. The summit in Vilnius in mid-2023 will be devoted to their implementation.

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