NATO Unprepared For Russian Threats, Say British Mps

NATO is not well-prepared to face new threats posed by Russia, British MPs warned Thursday.



The latest developments in Ukraine, and particularly in Crimea, must be a "wake-up call" for NATO, according to a new report published by the House of Commons' Defense Committee.



The report said:  "NATO has serious deficiencies in its command and control structures, in its ability to predict and give adequate warning of potential attack, and in the readiness of its forces. NATO may not have the collective political will to take concerted action to deter attack."



Despite calling the risk of an attack by the Russians on a NATO member state as low, it called on the organization to take much more action to deter that risk no matter how low it was.



"NATO needs to reorder, train and exercise its capabilities to be able to defend against both eventualities. The Committee calls on the UK Government to take the lead at the NATO Summit in Wales in September to ensure that NATO is ready to face such threats," the report added.



The U.K. will be hosting the next NATO Summit in Wales on September 4-5. 



The defense committee made several specific recommendations including "the pre-positioning of military equipment in the Baltic states and a continuous presence of NATO troops on training and exercises in the Baltic."



Earlier in the week, British Defense Secretary Michael Fallon announced during a visit to Poland that the United Kingdom was to send a battle group of 1,350 troops to take part in NATO military exercises in Poland in order to demonstrate their commitment to the collective security of their allies in Eastern Europe and Baltic states.



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