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☆ Russia may not start an all-out war with NATO, but already has plans to destroy it from within
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-01 | by ( Tom Porter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

Late last year, Poland's national security agency estimated that Russia could attack NATO within three years. AdvertisementBut whether Putin really does intend to attack NATO and what an attack might look like remains unclear. In March, Putin denied having any plans to attack NATO members, describing such claims as "complete nonsense." "So, his ambition in growing is not going to be that he will attack NATO and NATO countries next year. A covert war is already underwayRussia, some point out, is already engaged in a war with NATO, albeit covertly.

Persons: —, Donald Tusk, Tusk, Putin, Emmanuel Macron, NATO Putin, Philip Ingram, Ingram, Ruth Deyermond, Bryden Spurling, Robert Dover, Spurling, that's, SERGEY BOBOK, Russia's Organizations: Service, Poland's, Business, Bild, NATO, Germany isn't, Ukraine, King's College London, RAND Corporation, University of Hull, European NATO, RAND, Ukrainian Territorial Defence Forces Locations: Europe, Russia, Ukraine, Eastern Europe, Baltic, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Germany, Washington, Russian, NATO, European, Kharkiv, Soviet Union

☆ As Trump blasts NATO allies for not paying for defense, these front-line countries are readying for war
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-26 | by ( Chris Panella | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

But as Russia's bloody war in Ukraine enters its third year, and the threat to NATO countries, particularly those on Russia's borders, grows, the Baltic states are investing in their defense more than ever. Shawn CooverThe talk came just on the heels of Trump's most recent attack on NATO members who he deems aren't paying their 'fair share." Last week, the former president said that he would keep the US in NATO should European countries pay and "play fair." He said the US "was paying 90% of NATO," and that without the US, NATO "literally doesn't even exist." "We've reinstated conscription, so we're building up our armed forces," an unpopular move that Latvian President Edgars Rinkēvičs is pushing other NATO members to do, too.

Persons: —, Donald Trump, Margus Tsahkna, Vladimir Putin, Tsahkna, Shawn Coover, Trump, ALAIN JOCARD, Olaf Scholz, Emmanuel Macron, isn't, Macron, Krišjānis Kariņš, Kariņš, Thomas Wiegold, We've, Edgars Rinkēvičs, Rinkēvičs Organizations: Service, NATO, Business, Hudson Institute, Washington DC, Estonian, US Marine Corps, Staff, Getty, Latvian, Financial Times Locations: Ukraine, Baltic, Washington, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Russia, Russian, China, Europe, NATO, Poland, estonian, Rakvere, AFP, Baltics, France, Germany, Russia's, Greece, Belarus, Finland, Romania, Hungary

☆ Kremlin Says Goals of Russia's 'Special Military Operation' in Ukraine Remain Unchanged
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-07 | by ( Feb. | At A.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +1 min

MOSCOW (Reuters) - The Kremlin said on Wednesday that the goals of what Russia calls its "special military operation" in Ukraine remain unchanged nearly two years after President Vladimir Putin sent tens of thousands of troops to fight there. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia's objectives in Ukraine were still relevant, before describing what they were. "Demilitarisation, denazification, (and) ensuring the safety of people living in those regions that have already become Russian, protecting them from direct attacks and actually saving their lives," Peskov told reporters on a conference call. Ukraine and the West have repeatedly accused Russia of using what they say are false pretexts to wage an unjustified war of colonial conquest which Kyiv has pledged to resist until the last Russian soldier leaves its territory. The Latest Photos From Ukraine View All 91 Images(Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Andrew Osborn)

Persons: Vladimir Putin, Dmitry Peskov, Peskov, Andrew Osborn Organizations: Russian Federation, NATO, Kyiv, Reuters Locations: MOSCOW, Russia, Ukraine, Russian

☆ NATO urges members to get their logistics homework done
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-23 | by ( Sabine Siebold | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

NATO's Joint Support and Enabling Command (JSEC) in the southern German town of Ulm started operating in 2021. "At the heyday of the war in Ukraine, Russia fired 50,000 artillery shells per day. As it is, NATO forces have to navigate a variety of national regulations, stretching from the advance-notice required before ammunition can be shipped to the permissible length of military convoys and disease prophylaxis. "We have a surplus of regulations, but the one thing we don't have is time," warned Admiral Rob Bauer, head of NATO's military committee. "Russia's war against Ukraine has proven to be a war of attrition – and a war of attrition is a battle of logistics."

Persons: Alexander Sollfrank, Sollfrank, Rob Bauer, Sabine Siebold, Christina Fincher Organizations: Europe NATO, NATO, Reuters, Command, Warsaw, EU, Thomson Locations: Europe, BRUSSELS, Russia, Ulm, Ukraine, Germany, Moscow

☆ The EU has sent less than a third of the 1 million rounds of ammo it promised Ukraine, report says
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-14 | by ( Thibault Spirlet | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

The EU pledged to send Ukraine one million rounds of ammunition by March 2024. But it has only sent 300,000 so far, an EU official told Politico Europe. AdvertisementThe European Union will likely fall short of sending the one million rounds of ammunition it pledged to Ukraine, an unnamed senior EU official told Politico Europe. Politico's report said that EU countries had sent 300,000, less than a third of their promise. Other European and Ukrainian senior officials drew the same conclusion this week after Bloomberg reported that the EU was "very unlikely" to hit its 1 million rounds target by March.

Persons: —, Boris Pistorius, Dmytro Kuleba, Rob Bauer Organizations: Politico, Service, EU, Politico Europe, Bloomberg, Germany's, Guardian, Ukraine's, European Pravda Locations: Ukraine, Politico Europe, Netherlands

☆ Israel's getting tens of thousands of artillery shells intended for Ukraine, report says, as 2 wars pull at a stockpile already under stress
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-20 | by ( Natalie Musumeci | Chris Panella | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The US has agreed to give Israel tens of thousands of artillery rounds initially slated for Ukraine, Axios reported. The Pentagon plans to send Israel the supply of 155 millimeter artillery shells in the coming weeks, the report said. The chair of NATO's Military Committee previously warned that allied ammo supplies are nearing the "bottom of the barrel." AdvertisementAdvertisementThe US Department of Defense referred to Ryder's remarks when asked for comment on the Axios report on Friday. AdvertisementAdvertisementMeanwhile, President Joe Biden is asking Congress for tens of billions of dollars in aid for both Israel and Ukraine.

Persons: Axios, —, Pat Ryder, Ryder's, Russia —, Ryder, Joe Biden, Bradley, Biden Organizations: US, Pentagon, Service, Air Force, US Department of Defense, Russia, Attack Munitions, High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, Israel Locations: Ukraine, Israel, States, Gaza, Russia

☆ Hamas assault on Israel shows surprise still possible in AI era: Peter Apps
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +9 min

The failure of those systems to deliver advanced warning of Saturday's Hamas attack, however, represents a failure of intelligence likely to be studied and discussed for years. “There will have been warning signs,” one former Western intelligence official said on condition of anonymity. In concealing their attack, Hamas will have been helped by conditions of Gaza Strip, where Hamas seized power in 2007 and some 2.3 million people are hemmed in behind a 51-km border. Israel may still fear the Hamas assault from Gaza is a precursor to that. Since the Hamas attack, Russia has reasserted its support for an independent Palestinian state and called for a ceasefire while Israeli officials have criticised China directly for failing to condemn Hamas.

Persons: Robert Bauer, Eyal Zamir, Jacob Dallal, Benjamin Netanyahu’s, –, Israel, Assad, David Barnea, Sergey Lavrov, Mark Heinrich Our Organizations: Hamas, NATO, Israeli Defence Ministry, United, United Arab Emirates, Islamic, U.S, Russian, Thomson, Reuters Locations: Israel, Gaza, U.S, Ukraine, Washington, Taiwan, Iranian, Lebanon, Egypt, Qatar, ” Jerusalem’s Al Aqsa, Saudi Arabia, United Arab, Iran, Tehran, Israel’s, Syria, Islamic State, Russia, China, Turkish, Kurdish, Moscow, Beijing

☆ Ukraine's unending demand for artillery shells to fight Russia is tapping out critical Western ammo stockpiles, which officials say are almost empty
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-04 | by ( Grace Eliza Goodwin | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The artillery-intensive war in Ukraine is drying up Western ammunition stockpiles. download the app Email address Sign up By clicking “Sign Up”, you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy . AdvertisementAdvertisementNATO's most senior military official warned that the West's ammunition warehouses providing help to Ukraine in its war against Russia are almost empty. He added that that includes "continuing to give, day in, day out, and rebuilding our own stockpiles." But with the future of Western assistance uncertain, Ukraine is now trying to solve the problem itself.

Persons: —, Rob Bauer, Bauer, James Heappey, Heappey, Michael Kofman, Rob Lee, Volodymyr Zelenskyy Organizations: NATO, Service, Warsaw Security, Guardian, CNN, Pentagon, US, Foreign Policy Research, Politico Locations: Ukraine, Russia, Netherlands, Europe

Striding along the training area in his fatigues, Army Gen. Mark Milley bellowed at the Ukrainian troops gathered around him. But as he leaves office at the end of the month, his work to support Ukraine will be just one part of a complicated and fractious legacy. to World War II. He often quotes one World War II veteran at the Normandy American Cemetery who begged him to make sure a war like that never happens again. I’ve buried a lot of soldiers, and my dad and mom fought in World War II,” he said.

Persons: Mark Milley bellowed, “ Slava Ukraini, hollered, “ Heroyam slava, wince, They've, can’t, they’ll, Milley, Donald Trump, Trump, Joe Biden, Sen, Marco Rubio, Biden, Barry McCaffrey, “ Trump, ” Long, strolled, he’s, shouldn’t, ”, Mike Waltz, “, couldn’t, CQ Brown, Adm, Rob Bauer, Bauer, Milley “, “ I’m, ” Bauer, I’ve, we’ve Organizations: Biden, Joint Chiefs of Staff, Capitol, Pentagon, Florida Republican, Trump, White, National Defense University, ” Republican, ” Air Force, Ukraine, ., ” Observers, NATO, Irish Catholic, U.S . Constitution Locations: OSLO, Norway, Germany, Ukraine, Moscow, Ukrainian, Afghanistan, Washington, Iraq, Syria, U.S, China, Florida, Lafayette, Europe, Netherlands, Oslo, “, Boston, Athens, Sparta, Normandy, U.S .

☆ Russian forces near Norway at '20% or less' than before Ukraine war, Norway's armed-forces chief says
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

General Eirik Kristoffersen, head of Norway's Armed Forces, poses for a picture at his office in Oslo, Norway, September 26, 2022. REUTERS/Gwladys Fouche/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsOSLO, Sept 16 (Reuters) - Russian forces stationed in the Arctic near Norway are "20% or less" of the number they were before the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Norway's chief of defence said on Saturday. "On our border, on the Russian border, there is maybe 20% or less (Russian) forces left than it used to be before Feb. 24, 2022," he told a press conference. "If he believed that we were threatening Russia, he couldn't have moved on his troops to Ukraine to fight the war there." Finland and Russia share a 1,300 km (810 miles) border, with Russian troops along that zone, as with Norway, below the numbers they were before the war.

Persons: Eirik Kristoffersen, Gwladys, Vladimir Putin, couldn't, Rob Bauer, Finland, Bauer, Gwladys Fouche, Sabine Siebold, Nick Macfie Organizations: Norway's Armed Forces, REUTERS, Rights, NATO, Russian, Thomson Locations: Oslo, Norway, Rights OSLO, Russian, Ukraine, Russia, Northern, Finland, Berlin

Banners displaying the NATO logo are placed at the entrance of new NATO headquarters during the move to the new building, in Brussels, Belgium April 19, 2018. "That means that we cannot make sure that the increased defence spending actually leads to more security." In February, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg warned Kyiv was burning through shells much faster than the West could produce them. Bauer pushed for more private investment in the defence sector to ramp up production capacity, urging pension funds and banks to stop labelling defence investments as unethical. As we have seen in Ukraine, war is a whole of society event," he said, adding such investment was in the private sector's strategic interest as well.

Persons: Yves Herman, Rob Bauer, Jens Stoltenberg, Bauer, Gwladys Fouche, Sabine Siebold, Jason Neely, Ros Russell Organizations: NATO, REUTERS, Rights, Thomson Locations: Brussels, Belgium, Rights OSLO, Oslo, Ukraine, Kyiv, Germany, Poland, Baltic, Berlin

☆ A possible future mission for the US's secretive Phoenix Ghost and Switchblade drones? Hunting Russian nukes
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-28 | by ( Stavros Atlamazoglou | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

The tense environment has been punctuated by Russian threats of nuclear strikes against the West in response to NATO's military support for Ukraine. In a future war, the secretive drones the US has supplied to Ukraine — the Phoenix Ghost and Switchblade — could get a new mission: hunting Russian nukes in Kaliningrad. NATO forces could use loitering munitions — drones designed to linger near a target before crashing into and destroying it — for such a mission in Kaliningrad. "A focus should also be on the training of these forces with the Phoenix Ghost and Switchblade drones to assist them in their search and destroy efforts," DiRubbio writes. The US has provided a few hundred of those two drones to Ukraine, including both version of the Switchblade.

Persons: Vladimir Putin's, nukes, Vitaly Nevar, William DiRubbio, DiRubbio, Sarah Pysher, Stavros Atlamazoglou Organizations: Service, NATO, Russian, Ukraine, Baltic Fleet, REUTERS, US Air Force, Royal United Services Institute, Russian Defense Ministry, US Army's Delta Force, Special Air Service, Phoenix, Delta Force, Lejeune, US Marine Corps, Hellenic Army, 575th Marine Battalion, Army, Johns Hopkins University, Johns Hopkins, School, International Locations: Russia, Ukraine, Kaliningrad, Europe, Wall, Silicon, Moscow, Russia's, Baltic, Vitaly Nevar Kaliningrad, Lithuania, Poland, British, Russian, North Carolina, Johns

☆ A showdown with one senator over hundreds of generals and admirals is set to ripple through the US military
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-11 | by ( Christopher Woody | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +13 min

Waiting to replacing him is Gen. Eric Smith, and he will continue waiting until one senator lifts holds on the promotions of more than 250 generals and admirals. Tuberville's hold targets uniformed military officers over a policy set by the US military's civilian leadership, diverging from the longstanding manner in which members of Congress have expressed displeasure with such policies. Kelsey Dornfeld"Uniformed military officers do not set policy. 'We will lose talent'Maj. Gen. Eric Smith receives his three-star rank insignia during a ceremony in Okinawa in August 2018. "It is the personal development, it is the family understanding and predictability" that will be affected, Adm. John Aquilino, head of US Indo-Pacific Command, told senators in April.

Persons: Sen, Tommy Tuberville, Tuberville, David Berger, Eric Smith, Biden, —, Katherine Kuzminski, Sergeant, Marine Corps Troy Black, Kelsey Dornfeld, They're, Kuzminski, Berger, It's, Defense Lloyd Austin III, Austin, that's, Smith, Olivia G, Ortiz, Benjamin Northcutt, Christopher Cavoli, Michael Gilday, Lisa Franchetti, MCS2 La’Cordrick Wilson, John Aquilino, James McConville, McConville, Frank Kendall, Charles Brown Jr, Kendall, Brown, Drew Angerer, Mitch McConnell, Jack Reed's, Defense Lloyd Austin, Mark Milley, Alex Wong, Reed, Elizabeth Warren Organizations: Service, US Marine Corps, Pentagon, Department, US, Military, Veterans, Center, New, New American Security, Marine Corps, Staff, Uniformed, Defense, United States, Washington DC, Senate Armed Services Committee, US Army Europe, US Army, US European Command, NATO's Military, Naval Reactors, US Navy, Pacific Command, " Air Force, Savannah, Joint Chiefs of Staff, Capitol, Republican, CNN, Joint Chiefs Locations: Wall, Silicon, New American, Okinawa, Germany, Cavoli, Pacific, California, South Korea, Alabama

☆ Russia's Medvedev: NATO's military aid to Ukraine brings World War Three closer
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-11 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Sputnik/Yekaterina Shtukina/Pool via REUTERS/File PhotoJuly 12 (Reuters) - Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy secretary of Russia's powerful Security Council chaired by President Vladimir Putin, said late on Tuesday that the increase in military assistance to Ukraine by the NATO alliance brings World War Three closer. World War Three is getting closer," Medvedev wrote on the Telegram messaging app. He also advocated on Tuesday for using the "inhuman weapon" that is cluster munitions after what he said were reports of Ukraine already using it. The U.S. announced it would supply Kyiv with cluster munitions that typically release large numbers of small bomblets over a wide area and are banned by many countries. Russia and Ukraine have previously accused each other of already using cluster munitions in the 500-day war.

Persons: Dmitry Medvedev, Nikolay Pankov, Vladimir Putin, Medvedev, it's, Sergei Shoigu, Lidia Kelly, Stephen Coates Organizations: Deputy, Sputnik, NATO, Ukraine, Kremlin, U.S, Russian, Thomson Locations: Volgograd region, Russia, Ukraine, U.S, Lithuania, Kyiv, Moscow, United States, Melbourne

☆ Ukraine right to be cautious with counter-offensive, top NATO official says
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BRUSSELS, July 3 (Reuters) - Ukraine's counter-offensive against Russian forces is proving difficult due to landmines and other obstacles but Ukrainian forces are right to proceed cautiously, NATO's top military official said on Monday. "The counter offensive, it is difficult," said Admiral Rob Bauer, a Dutch military officer who is the chair of NATO's military committee. Bauer's comments echoed remarks by General Mark Milley, the top U.S. military officer, who said on Friday the counter-offensive would be very difficult, very long and "very, very bloody". Bauer said Ukrainian forces were right to be cautious to avoid high casualties as they probed for possible breakthroughs. He said Ukrainian forces should not face pressure or criticism for not moving more quickly.

Persons: Rob Bauer, Bauer, General Mark Milley, Andrew Gray, Frank Jack Daniel Our Organizations: Russian, NATO, Reuters, Thomson Locations: BRUSSELS, Dutch, Brussels, Ukrainian, Normandy, Russia

☆ NATO reaches back to Cold War past with first major defence plans in decades
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Sabine Siebold | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

[1/6] The Chair of the NATO Military Committee, Admiral Rob Bauer listens during an interview in Tallinn, Estonia September 16, 2022. By outlining what it calls its regional plans, NATO will also give nations guidance on how to upgrade their forces and logistics. Finland's accession last month has alone doubled NATO's border with Russia to some 2,500 km, forcing a more flexible approach to deployments than in the past, when Germany was seen as the main battlezone. "We don't envision the type of war that the Cold War was, where allied forces ... would be hit simultaneous with large-scale Warsaw Pact attacks," he said, pointing rather to regionalised conflicts that needed to be contained by quick force deployments. NATO agreed in 2022 to put 300,000 troops on high alert, up from 40,000 in the past.

☆ NATO reaches back to Cold War past with first major defense plans
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Sabine Siebold | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

☆ Ukraine says it routs Russia brigade, Kremlin admits campaign 'very difficult'
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

The unit's claim appeared to back up comments by Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner private army, who on Tuesday said the Russian brigade had abandoned its positions. "We managed to beat up the Ukrainian military machine quite a bit," said Peskov, citing Russian missile strikes in Ukraine. His comments did not address claims that Russia's 72nd Separate Motor-rifle Brigade had abandoned positions on the southwestern outskirts of Bakhmut. Prigozhin's report about the flight of Russia's 72nd Independent Motorized Rifle Brigade from near Bakhmut and the '500 corpses' of Russians left behind is true." A Russian brigade is typically formed of several thousand troops.

☆ Ukraine war will increasingly pit quantity against quality -NATO official
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Admiral Rob Bauer, the chair of NATO's military committee, noted Russia was now deploying significant numbers of T-54 tanks - an old model designed in the years after World War Two. So ... in terms of numbers, quantity, it is an issue," Bauer told reporters after a meeting of the alliance's national military chiefs at NATO headquarters in Brussels. The Ukrainians meanwhile would "focus on quality, with Western weapon systems and Western training. Bauer said the NATO military chiefs restated "unrelenting support" to a Ukrainian representative at the meeting. "There is no doubt that NATO will support Ukraine for as long as it takes," said Bauer, a Dutch military officer.

☆ NATO just got hundreds of tanks, 62 fighter jets, and a whole lot of artillery after Finland joined the military alliance
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( Sinéad Baker | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Finland, Russia's neighbors, became a member of the NATO military alliance on Tuesday. It brings hundreds of tanks, 62 fighter jets, and lots of artillery and soldiers with it. Finland officially became a member of the military alliance on Tuesday, strongly motivated by Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Finland becoming part of NATO is seen as a nightmare for Russia, which considers the alliance a key threat. Alexander Stubb, Finland's former prime minister, told Axios that Russia's threats over it joining NATO can be dismissed due to the strength of Finland's military.

☆ Russia and China are being driven together as the chasm with the West deepens
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-21 | by ( Holly Ellyatt | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

"It's basically about certain strategic interests, that are very close to both Beijing and Moscow at this point," she added. "For both Russia and China, the main interest is to weaken the U.S.-led international order, that's their primary goal, long term and short term." The Ukraine factorFor both China and Russia, the war in Ukraine is both a challenge to that U.S.-led world order and a way to undermine it, analysts note. China has held back from openly supporting Russia's war in Ukraine but it has also refused to condemn the invasion. This fear, she said, could sway China when it considers whether to offer Putin help in Ukraine.

Biden said the West was never plotting to attack Russia and the invasion was Putin's choice. "It is a big mistake," Biden said of Putin's decision before his session with eastern European allies known as the Bucharest Nine. We will defend literally every inch of NATO, every inch of NATO," he said. The Kremlin says it regards NATO, which could soon expand to include Sweden and Finland, as an existential threat to Russia. It said the leaders looked forward to further strengthening unity and collective defense at a NATO summit in Vilnius in July.

[1/9] Czech presidential candidate Petr Pavel and his wife Eva Pavlova react at his headquarters, after results are announced for the country's presidential election, in Prague, Czech Republic January 28, 2023. Pavel, a 61-year-old retired general running for office for the first time, won 58.3% of the vote with all voting districts reporting final results, defeating billionaire ex-premier Andrej Babis, a dominant but polarising force in Czech politics for a decade. Pavel has also fully backed continued support for Ukraine in its defence against Russia's invasion. Babis, 68, a combative business magnate who heads the biggest opposition party in parliament, had attacked Pavel as the government's candidate. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy congratulated Pavel on his election on Twitter and said he looked forward to close cooperation.

☆ Petr Pavel: who is the ex-army chief leading Czech presidential election race?
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( Jan Lopatka | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Polls make the bearded retired general, 61, the favourite to win a run-off vote on Friday and Saturday against billionaire ex-prime minister Andrej Babis, 68. "We got into several tense situations and he always managed them with deliberation and calm," retired Czech general Ales Opata, who served in Croatia and after with Pavel, told Reuters. He lead the Czech general staff from 2012, during Czech involvement in operations in Afghanistan, and in 2015 became NATO's military committee chair, an advisory position of the alliance's secretary-general. Jiri Sedivy, chief executive of the European Defence Agency and former Czech ambassador to NATO, said Pavel was a decision-maker who could take responsibility. After Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea, Pavel represented NATO in a 2017 meeting with Russian Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov.

☆ Former NATO general, ex-prime minister seen leading Czech presidential election
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-13 | by ( Jan Lopatka | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/3] Czech presidential candidate and former Chairman of the NATO Military Committee and Czech Army General Petr Pavel casts his ballot during the country's direct presidential election in the village of Cernoucek, Czech Republic, January 13, 2023. The post does not carry executive authority but has significant powers in appointing prime ministers, central bank chiefs and nominating judges for the constitutional court. Pavel, 61, and Nerudova, 44, are strongly pro-Western and support further military aid for Ukraine as well as adoption of the euro. They would not have decision-making power in those affairs but could set the agenda in public and political consultations. Babis has also spoken against more Czech military aid for Ukraine.

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