NATO’s chief has
said that the power
of Russia’s military
shouldn’t be underestimat-
ed following the weekend
mutiny against it by Wag-
ner Group mercenaries,
and said the alliance has
increased its readiness to
confront Russia in recent
days. Jens Stoltenberg said
the alliance may decide to
further boost its strength
and readiness to face Russia
and its ally Belarus when
NATO leaders meet in the
Lithuanian capital of Vilnius
on 11-12 July.
At a meeting in The Hague
of eight NATO leaders, Lith-
uanian President Gitanas
Nauseda said that neigh-
bouring countries would
face a heightened danger
if the Wagner Group de-
ploys its “serial killers” in
Belarus.
Stoltenberg said it was still
early to draw any conclu-
sions about what Wagner
leader Yevgeny Prigozhin
and some of his forces
might do or whether they
all might end up in Belarus.
The leaders agreed that,
given the short-lived revolt
by Wagner fighters in Rus-
sia over the weekend, that
the allies should continue
to bolster their forces along
NATO’s eastern flank to dis-
courage Russian President
Vladimir Putin from at-
tempting to widen his war.
NATO responded to Rus-
sia’s full-scale invasion of
Ukraine in February 2022
by deploying multinational
battlegroups in Slovakia,
Hungary, Romania and Bul-
garia. They complement an-
other four deployed in 2017
in the three Baltic states and
Poland, to expand NATO’s
presence from the Baltics to
the Black Sea. On Monday,
Germany said that it stands
ready to permanently base
forces in Lithuania, if need-
ed. Rutte and Stoltenberg
met with the presidents of
Romania and Poland and
leaders of Belgium, Nor-
way, Albania and Lithuania
at the Dutch leader’s official
residence in a leafy suburb
of The Hague.
Earlier Tuesday, Russian
authorities said they had
closed a criminal inves-
tigation into the aborted
armed rebellion led by Pr-
igozhin and are pressing no
charges against him or his
troops. The mutiny by Wag-
ner Group forces lasted less
than 24 hours, but formed
the latest twist in a series of
events that have brought the
gravest threat to Putin’s grip
on power in the 16-month-
old war in Ukraine. The war
led Sweden and Finland to
seek to join NATO. Finland
has already become the al-
liance’s latest member, but
Sweden’s membership is be-
ing held up by Turkey.
On Monday, Stoltenberg
said he will call an urgent
meeting in the coming days
to try to overcome Turkish
objections to Sweden join-
ing the military organiza-
tion, in a last-ditch effort
to have the Nordic country
standing alongside the al-
lies at the July summit in
Lithuania. NATO requires
the unanimous approval of
all members to expand.
