Maira Butt– TheIndependant.com
Nato’s secretary general Mark Rutte said Europe is already Russia’s next target and ‘we are already in harm’s way’
Europe must prepare for a conflict with Russia “on the scale our grandparents endured”, Nato’s secretary general has said in a stark warning to the West.
Tensions have been escalating across the continent in recent weeks, following a spate of drone incursions into Nato airspace and a chilling statement by Russian president Vladimir Putin that his country is “ready for war right now” if Europe wants it.
“We are Russia’s next target. And we are already in harm’s way,” Mark Rutte said in a speech in Berlin on Thursday.
“Russia has brought war back to Europe, and we must be prepared for the scale of war our grandparents and great-grandparents endured.”
Insisting on an immediate and rapid boost of defence spending as a deterrent, he added: “Conflict is at our door.”