Overview
- Lt. Gen. Alexander Sollfrank told Reuters that Moscow retains the means for a small, rapid, regionally limited strike on Alliance territory at short notice.
- He cautioned that sustained rearmament could make a large-scale operation feasible by 2029, with outcomes influenced by Western posture.
- Sollfrank described Russia’s hybrid tactics as designed to provoke and test reaction speed through hard-to-attribute actions, with recent drone incidents in Polish airspace cited in coverage.
- His assessment reflects forces that remain substantial, including an air force largely intact, significant tank numbers, and a plan to raise troop strength toward 1.5 million.
- German leaders pledged accelerated buildup, outlining roughly €160 billion in investments through 2029, a planned increase of about 60,000 soldiers, and a target of 260,000 active personnel in the early 2030s under NATO capability goals.