Streeting: NATO must be ready for war with Russia in 1,000 days

UK Defence Secretary Wes Streeting said on Tuesday, 27 October, in Warsaw that NATO and its members must be fully ready for a possible war with Russia in 1,000 days.

According to him, Vladimir Putin is testing the alliance’s strength, PAP reports.

The speech took place after Streeting’s meeting with Poland’s Minister of National Defence Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz. The ministers signed a three-year agreement — the first stage of a new partnership treaty on security and defence between the UK and Poland.

Streeting said Britain must be ready for a scenario “in which the United Kingdom and NATO countries find themselves at war with Russia,” Ukrainska Pravda reports, citing The Guardian.

“Not because we want war: we have no quarrel with the Russian people and no desire to fight Russia, and NATO is a defensive alliance. But when Putin assures us that he has no intention of provoking a war with NATO, we remember what he said about Ukraine just days before the invasion,” he said.

According to him, “the better we prepare to stand up to Russia and defend every inch of NATO territory, the less likely it is that we will find ourselves in such a scenario,” UNN reports.

Streeting pointed to the incursion of enemy drones into the airspace of alliance countries. He also noted that Poland scrambles its air defence forces every day because of drone incursions, and called Russia’s hybrid attacks “state terrorism,” Polish Radio reports.

What the Warsaw defence plan provides for

According to the British government, under the plan the two countries will cooperate “at sea, on land, in the air, in cyberspace and in industry” to strengthen deterrence on Europe’s eastern flank. According to Anadolu Agency, the plan provides for the joint development of next-generation missiles for air defence systems, drone technologies and counter-drone capabilities, as well as more frequent patrolling of the Baltic Sea. It builds on Poland’s purchase of the Narew air defence system from the British division of MBDA. In addition, BAE Systems and Poland’s PGZ undertake to increase the production of large-calibre ammunition.

Kosiniak-Kamysz named among the joint initiatives the Miecznik frigate programme, the Narew, Pilica and Pilica+ air defence system projects, as well as a planned production line for 155 mm shells, AOL reports. The prime ministers of the two countries signed the framework treaty in May at Northolt. For Poland to ratify it, presidential approval is required, which has not yet been given.

Transatlantic ties

Kosiniak-Kamysz said both countries advocate a stronger Europe, but without weakening ties with Washington. “There is no alternative to transatlantic cooperation. Any other solution is simply worse,” he said, Reuters reports, citing U.S. News. He also added that Poland will try to help the UK benefit from the EU’s SAFE defence financing programme.

Streeting spoke about the agreement in the same vein. “The new Warsaw defence plan confirms this cooperation and sets out how we will continue to work together already today, building a stronger Europe within a stronger NATO,” he said.