On December 31, the Financial Times reported, citing documents presented to the paper by Western sources, that Russia had developed plans to target civilian and military facilities in Japan and South Korea in the event of a war with NATO. Reported.
The leaked plans were developed between 2008 and 2014 to train military officers for potential conflict in Russia’s east, and are still considered “relevant to Russian strategy.” It is reported that.
The document outlines 160 potential targets, including civilian and military infrastructure such as roads, bridges, factories and military facilities in NATO allies Japan and South Korea.
The plan details how attacking these targets could disrupt “the realignment of forces in the area of operational objectives” and protect Russia’s eastern flank in a broader conflict. There is.
Military targets identified in the plan include Japanese and South Korean military central and regional commands, radar facilities, air bases, and naval facilities. Civil infrastructure targets include roads, bridges, and railway tunnels.
Other major sites include a fuel refinery in Busan, South Korea, industrial facilities such as steel mills and chemical plants, and 13 power plants, including a nuclear facility in Tokai, Japan.
The plan was drafted between 2008 and 2014, but Russia and NATO are currently openly discussing the possibility of war.
Russian Deputy Defense Minister Andrei Belosov said at a defense ministry meeting on December 16 that Russia needs to prepare for various scenarios, including “the possibility of a conflict with NATO within the next 10 years.”
Belousov has accused NATO of preparing for war, citing actions such as appointing a representative to Kiev and supporting Ukraine’s entry into NATO during the alliance’s 75th anniversary summit in July 2024. denounced.
On the Atlantic side, NATO foreign ministers in Europe have begun discussions on gradually increasing the alliance’s defense spending target from 2% of GDP to 3% by 2030.
In particular, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius argued for an expansion of the defense budget, saying, “If President Putin attacks, we need to be able to wage war.”
Is NATO ready for war with Russia?
With Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) faced a new geopolitical reality. The alliance, which was described as “brain dead” by French President Emmanuel Macron just a few years ago, has woken up to a previously thought threat.
