NATO commander/US European Command commander Gen. Tod Walters delivered a speech yesterday to the Air Force Association’s Aerospace Warfare Symposium, in which he called Russia an existential threat to the US. “We’re in an era of global-power competition. Winning in this era is ensuring that global power competition does not become a global power war,” Wolters said. “Despite widespread international condemnation and continued economic sanctions, Russia engages in destabilizing and malign activities across the globe, with many of those activities happening close to home [in Europe].”
Russia, Wolters added, seeks to maintain a sphere of influence from the Soviet era by retaining or employing forces to coerce neighboring Soviet-sovereign nations. In this global power competition, Russia is employing unconventional tools such as private military companies to intimidate, weaken, and divide U.S. allies and partners. “Russia remains an enduring existential threat to the United States and our European allies,” he said.
