NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, in an interview with Sky News, admitted that Russia has strengthened its defense industry faster than expected, and complained that the alliance countries, on the contrary, have lost a lot of time in increasing arms production.
“It is true that Russia has been able to strengthen its defense industry faster than we expected, and it is true that NATO allies have spent more time than they should have on ramping up production,” Stoltenberg said.
Earlier, Defense News reported that American and European military officials, who had previously stated that the Russian army had allegedly suffered large military losses, in recent months began to admit that it was recovering much faster than they expected.
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The level of Russia’s weapons and ammunition production since the start of the conflict with Ukraine has surpassed NATO’s expectations, the secretary general of the US-led military bloc has acknowledged.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking to Sky News on Monday, Jens Stoltenberg was asked to comment on a study released last month by the consulting firm Bain & Company, which revealed that Moscow was generating artillery shells at more than three times the rate of all NATO members combined.
“It’s correct that Russia has been able to build up their defense industry faster than we expected, and it’s correct that NATO allies have spent more time than they should in ramping up our production,” Stoltenberg replied.
The reason for Western nations lagging behind is that “after the Cold War we actually built down our defense industry,” he explained.
However, according to Stoltenberg, the situation is now improving, with “all of the NATO allies... increasing the capacity to produce ammunition and weapons.”