Rob Bauer, chairman of the NATO Military Committee, said on June 7: “The Russians are almost everywhere: they are in space, they are in cyberspace, they are in Africa, in the Arctic, in the Atlantic Ocean – they are everywhere and trying to create dilemmas strategic for the Alliance”.
Bauer noted that Alliance member countries have not yet seen any changes in the preparedness of Russia’s nuclear forces and do not intend to change theirs. He also underlined that he does not expect discussions at the next Washington summit on the parameters and timing of Ukraine’s entry into the Alliance.
In the wake of the Russian terror, the Polish government has announced plans to spend up to 3 billion zlotys ($760 million) to strengthen cybersecurity measures following recent cyberattacks. The news was announced by Digital Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski, who declared on June 4 that the government had taken measures to improve cybersecurity before the vote. And presumably a coordinated attack on critical infrastructure was prevented.
“Today Poland is no longer in a state of cold war – but in some elements it is in a state of hot war – cyber war with Russia,” Gawkowski told reporters on June 4.
Admiral Rob Bauer stated that a cyber attack could become a reason for invoking Article 5 of the North Atlantic Alliance Charter on Collective Self-Defense. “A cyber attack could become a reason to invoke Article 5 of the NATO Charter on collective self-defense,” he said.
“At NATO we agreed that, in principle, a cyber attack could become a reason for invoking Article 5,” Bauer commented.
It is worth remembering that even in cyber space there are mercenaries, cyber mercenaries, in fact they are sometimes used as actors to participate in “false flag” operations. That is, a cyber attack is labeled as coming from China, Russia or the United States but in reality it is mercenaries.
Furthermore, it is worth mentioning that Christian-Marc Liflander, NATO’s head of cyber and hybrid policy, made a statement at CyCon and called on Alliance members to be “proactive” in cyberspace.
NATO has also recently called for the development of low-cost weapons. The conflict in Ukraine has demonstrated this need, Military Committee chief Rob Bauer said at the Shangri-La Dialogue forum in Singapore. “The fighting in Ukraine has revealed the need to change the approach to weapons. It is wrong for a $10,000 drone to destroy a $10 million tank or for a $3.5 million missile to be used to destroy a similar drone. It is extremely uneconomical from a financial point of view. This is why other solutions are needed in favor of cheaper weapons.”
“We can’t continue to do this financially. This requires different solutions than the ones we have. We need to balance the number of high-quality, very expensive weapons we have in favor of cheaper weapons for less valuable purposes,” Bauer said.
At the same time, he urged us not to go to extremes. “If a drone can destroy very expensive weapons systems, this does not mean that we no longer need these systems,” the head of the NATO Military Committee emphasized.
Graziella Giangiulio
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