Russia makes a year’s worth of NATO ammunition in 3 months, Rutte says

Russia produces as much ammunition in three months as NATO does in a year, posing serious risks for the alliance, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said on June 9 at Chatham House in London.

“The capabilities of (Vladimir) Putin’s war machine are speeding up, not slowing down,” Rutte said. “Russia is reconstituting its forces with Chinese technology and producing more weapons faster than we thought."

Rutte’s statement comes amid mounting tensions between the alliance and Russia and an increasingly uncertain U.S. commitment to European security.

According to Rutte, Russia is restoring its military potential with the help of China, Iran, and North Korea. This year, the Russian industrial complex is expected to roll out 1,500 tanks, 3,000 armored vehicles, and 200 Iskander missiles, NATO chief said.

“Russia could be ready to use military force against NATO within five years,” Rutte said. “Let’s not kid ourselves."

“We are all on the eastern flank now. The new generation of Russian missiles travels at the speed of sound. The distance between European capitals is only a matter of minutes. There is no longer east or west. There is just NATO,” he added.

When asked whether a long-term truce in Ukraine’s war against Russia would allow the latter to stockpile even more weapons and increase the risks to NATO, Rutte said: “That’s a statement of fact."

“Our assumption at the moment is that even whilst the war against Ukraine is continuing, they (Russian forces) are still able to increase stockpiles slightly, but that’s debatable,” Rutte added.

Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 prompted European countries to hike defense spending in order to revive their military capabilities, which atrophied after decades of disarmament following the Cold War.

The matter gained more urgency after signals that the U.S., the most powerful military in NATO, plans to scale down its presence in Europe as President Donald Trump shifts strategic focus to the Asia-Pacific region.

Ukrainian foreign intelligence chief Oleh Ivashchenko recently warned that Russia will be able to replenish its forces between two and four years after the war in Ukraine, allowing it to launch aggression against Europe.

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The Kyiv IndependentFrancis Farrell