Civilians must prepare for all-out war with Russia in the next 20 years, a top Nato military official has warned.
While armed forces are primed for the outbreak of war, private citizens need to be ready for a conflict that would require wholesale change in their lives, Adml Rob Bauer said on Thursday.
Large numbers of civilians will need to be mobilized in case of the outbreak of war and governments should put in place systems to manage the process, Adml Bauer told reporters after a meeting of Nato defence chiefs in Brussels.
“We have to realize it’s not a given that we are in peace. And that’s why we [Nato forces] are preparing for a conflict with Russia.
“But the discussion is much wider. It is also the industrial base and also the people that have to understand they play a role.”
Adml Bauer, a Dutch naval officer who is chairman of Nato’s Military Committee, praised Sweden for asking all of its citizens to brace for war ahead of the country formally joining the alliance.
Stockholm’s move, announced earlier this month, has led to a surge in volunteers for the country’s civil defence organization and a spike in sales of torches and battery-powered radios.
“It starts there,” Adml Bauer said. “The realization that not everything is planable and not everything is going to be hunky dory in the next 20 years.”
Some 90,000 Nato troops will next week begin the bloc’s largest military exercise since the Cold War.
The Steadfast Defender 2024 operation has more than doubled in size since it was announced last year, and is explicitly designed to prepare the alliance for a Russian invasion.
Britain has committed around 20,000 soldiers, as well as tanks, artillery and fighter jets to the drills taking place across Europe until May.
But senior Nato officials are increasingly concerned that governments and private arms manufacturers are falling behind in preparations on the domestic front.
