In an interview published on Dec. 1 in Financial Times, Italian Adm. Giuseppe Cavo Dragone, the chair of NATO’s Military Committee, asserted that NATO has proposed considering the possibility of a “pre-emptive strike” against Russia.
Dragone insisted that in response to Russian cyber warfare activities, such as the unproven claim that Russian vessels are cutting cables in the Baltic Sea, or other alleged hybrid warfare against Europe, “We are studying everything. … On cyber, we are kind of reactive. Being more aggressive or being proactive instead of reactive is something that we are thinking about.”
He continued: “How deterrence is achieved—through retaliation, through pre-emptive strike—this is something we have to analyze deeply because there could be in the future even more pressure on this.” He told Financial Times, a “pre-emptive strike” could be considered a “defensive action.” He added the feint, “It is further away from our normal way of thinking and behavior,” only to advance his argument for pre-emptive action.
An unnamed “Baltic diplomat” told FT, “If all we do is continue being reactive, we just invite Russia to keep trying, keep hurting us.”
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova [excoriated](https://mid.ru/en/foreign_policy/news/2062139/ Dragone’s remarks on Dec. 1:
