Russia to create 20 military units in response to "Western provocations"

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Choïgou announced on Monday that 20 new military units would be formed in the western part of the country in order to respond to "provocations" from the West, placing the responsibility for this decision on Europe and the United States, which is sure to increase tensions between the two blocs. The nature of these units, nor the timetable have not been disclosed, making it impossible to assess precisely the consequences of such announcements, which come as relations between the West and Russia have once again deteriorated. after Moscow gave unconditional support to Belarusian leader Lukashenko after the hijacking of a civilian apparatus to arrest a blogger politically opposing the dictator's regime.

Moscow criticizes the Westerners in particular for the intensity and frequency of defense exercises in Europe, as well as the increasing number of flights and deployment of combat ships near its borders. Thus, according to Sergei Choïgou, the number of US strategic air force flights near Russian airspace has increased 14-fold over the past 7 years. Likewise, the deployment of NATO ships equipped with guided missiles in the Black Sea or the Baltic Sea would have increased significantly, citing the example of 18 deployments of such ships near the Kaliningrad enclave since 2016. Finally , the number of NATO exercises has increased by 50% in recent years according to the Russian Defense Minister, while in 2021 the Alliance's largest exercise in 3 decades is being held, Exercise Steadfast 2021 , bringing together 40.000 men to test the redeployment procedures.

Concretely, these allegations are correct, since indeed, NATO has significantly increased its operational readiness in recent years, and the Western air and naval forces present in the Baltic Sea, the Black Sea or the North Sea, such as the exercises organized in within the countries of the eastern frontage of the alliance, have also experienced significant growth. Just as it is true that the budgets allocated to the armed forces of NATO members have increased by nearly 25% over the past 6 years. On the other hand, the events that gave rise to this dynamic have their origin not in a change of posture on the part of the NATO countries, but indeed in a profound change in it initiated by Russia in 2012, and Vladimir Putin's return to the Kremlin.

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