Speaking on a panel at the ILA Berlin Air Show on June 11, the US’s top commander of NATO, General Alexus G. Grynkewich, downplayed concerns that Russia is an aggressive country that intends to invade more European countries. “I’ve watched the intelligence very closely. Russia is not looking for a conflict,” he said, reported the Financial Times. “They do understand the term ‘defensive alliance’, and they do understand that we have a number of asymmetric advantages.” Grynkewich is NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe and the head of U.S. European Command.
Grynkewich said further that his “job” was to ensure that “Russia understands that, should they try something in the Baltic States they won’t succeed. Because they know they won’t succeed, they won’t take the risk on something like that.” He also claimed that the Ukrainians are “holding their own” on the battlefield, and the Russians “barely advance.”
