World War 3 Fears Grow As NATO, Russia Increase Military Exercises

A new report has alleged that a global conflict is a genuine risk because of the increasing military exercises between Russia and NATO, and it’s even been feared that World War 3 could be provoked.

This warning was made courtesy of a think tank, led by director Ian Kearns. Speaking to the Associated Press, via Fox News, the head and co-author of the recent study from the London-based European Leadership Network insisted that the increased number of military exercises since Russia annexed Crimea a year and a half ago has led to “a climate of mistrust.”

In fact, the report added that they have “on occasion become the focal point for some quite close encounters between the NATO and Russian militaries.” These preparations only helped to “feed uncertainty,” while they also added to the risk of “dangerous military encounters.”

Most alarmingly, the ELN study explained that during their investigations they found evidence that “Russia is preparing for a conflict with NATO, and NATO is preparing for a possible confrontation with Russia.” The full report on the possible conflict read, via the Daily Star,

“Both exercises show that each side is training with the other side’s capabilities and most likely war plans in mind. While spokespeople may maintain these operations are targeted against hypothetical opponents the nature and scale of them indicate otherwise: Russia is preparing for a possible conflict with NATO, and NATO is preparing for a possible confrontation with Russia.”

According to ELN’s findings, over the last 18 month NATO, thanks to their 19 countries and three partner states, have conducted around 270 military exercises, the biggest of which involved 15,000 people. Meanwhile, Russia has had around 4,000 drills. The largest came in March with the use of 80,000 individuals.

Because of these exercises, both NATO and Russia were able to find out where the weakest areas of their opposition were. If a global conflict was to start, Russia would probably target the Poland and Baltic states. NATO would have more options as they could attack the borders of Crimea and the Arctic to Russia.

In order to combat the rise in tension, the ELN has insisted that more restraints need to be made to the scale and “scenarios” of these military endeavours. Meanwhile, NATO have insisted that their “military exercises are not, as the report suggests, making war in Europe more likely.” Instead, their spokesman Carmen Romero stated that they’re doing the complete opposite, which is to “enhance security and stability in Europe in response to growing Russian aggression.”

[Photo by Alexander Aksakov/Getty Images]