European Commissioner Kubilius calls for ramping up military preparations in EU

BERLIN, October 7. /TASS/. European Commissioner for Defense and Space Andrius Kubilius called for accelerating military preparations in Europe, which, according to him, is not yet able to provide military deterrence to Russia.

"Russia is still not being deterred," he said at a conference in Hamburg broadcast by the European Commission.

"Russia is still outproducing us in military production. Russia is able to rapidly make military technological innovations, like new types of drones."

He admitted that if "day X" comes "in terms of Russia’s possible aggression," the EU will face "a battle-tested Russian army with an ability to use 10 million drones per year or around 30,000 drones per day."

Based on these assumptions, Kubilius demanded that "our defense readiness has to speed up." He called for special efforts to develop "military mobility" in the EU - that is, the ability of EU countries to quickly transfer large masses of troops and weapons across Europe.

Kubilius called for a speedy creation of a military Schengen, a legal system for the free movement of troops throughout Europe in an emergency situation.

Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin called "lies and nonsense" the assumption that Russia wants to attack NATO, and advised anyone who hears such statements to ask the question: "Why does Russia need this?"