NATO asks Russia ‘not to worry’ despite earlier threats

NATO’s upcoming nuclear drills in Italy are pre-planned and no reason for Russia to “miscalculate,” the bloc’s nuclear policy director, Nassima Barrows, has claimed. The comments came despite NATO’s continued aggressive rhetoric towards Moscow.

On Wednesday, Estonia’s foreign minister claimed to The Times that NATO has the capability to close the Baltic Sea “within hours,” cutting Russia’s economic “lifeline” and creating an “existential” crisis for the country. Last week, Swedish Air Warfare Centre chief Colonel Carl Bergqvist said his country’s warplanes were ready to attack targets deep inside Russian territory in the event of a conflict with Moscow.

NATO said on Thursday that 17 member states will take part in the Steadfast Noon nuclear deterrence exercises between October 13 and 23, further adding to tensions between Russia and the West.

In late September, Moscow sent a stern message to NATO, saying it will use “its entire available arsenal” if the bloc threatens Russia’s Kaliningrad Region. The warning followed major drills by NATO aircraft near the Russian Baltic exclave in August and a later call by Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski for Western nations to increase their military posture near Russian borders so that the authorities in Moscow would be “uncertain of what we will do.”

NATO’s nuclear policy director, Nassima Barrows, told Politico later on Thursday that the fact that the Steadfast Noon drills are held every year should serve as “a clear message to nations like Russia that there is no need to worry.”

“This is predictable and there is no reason to miscalculate,” she added.

The exercises are aimed to “ensure the safety and security of our nuclear capability,” Barrows said.

Politico also cited an unnamed NATO official, who claimed that the bloc’s current intention is “to really keep things calm” with Moscow.

According to the chief of NATO’s nuclear operations, US Colonel David Bull, the drills in Italy will feature “no live nuclear weapons,” with troops expected to train various activities from a “simulated alert to [a] live flight exercise.”

During his speech at a session of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Vienna on Thursday, Russian envoy Dmitry Polyansky reiterated that Moscow “threatens no one and has no intention of attacking anyone.”

At the same time, however, the country “cannot ignore the development of plans by NATO for a direct military clash with Russia, nor the bloc’s simulation of scenarios involving a military-political blockade of Kaliningrad Region,” he stressed.

“Our response to any unfriendly moves will be swift,” Polyansky said, urging NATO against testing Russia’s patience and pushing the European continent “toward the point of no return.”