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Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has strongly condemned remarks made by Admiral Rob Bauer, the chairman of NATO’s Military Committee, following his suggestion that NATO may need to strike Russian missile bases to counter potential threats.
The comments, which were made during a recent Q&A session at the European Policy Center in Brussels, have sparked a wave of criticism from Moscow.
Admiral Bauer, addressing NATO’s stance on the ongoing conflict with Russia, reportedly stated, “The idea was we are a defensive alliance, so we will only sit and wait until we are attacked, and then when we are attacked, we will be able to shoot down the ‘arrows’ that come to us.”
He also hinted that it might be necessary to take preemptive action to weaken Russia’s strike capabilities, an assertion that Lavrov found troubling.
In response, Lavrov accused Bauer of advocating for aggressive military action against Russia. According to Russian state news agency TASS, Lavrov said, “To achieve the goals of protecting and defending the member countries of the North Atlantic Alliance, it is necessary to preemptively strike at those targets in the Russian Federation that, in NATO’s opinion, could pose a threat.”
While Lavrov’s comments suggested that Bauer had endorsed a “preemptive” strike, the NATO official did not explicitly use the term. Bauer’s remarks were later clarified as referring to measures that might weaken Russia’s offensive potential, rather than a direct call for preemptive military action.
