Russia is preparing for a long-term war with Nato, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) has claimed, after Vladimir Putin recreated a military district in western Russia whose sole focus will be on the more than 1,000-mile border with the alliance.
Putin signed a decree yesterday officially re-establishing the Leningrad Military District (LMD), having merged it into a larger outfit in 2010.
Previously, the Western Military District oversaw both the northeastern Ukrainian border and the Nato border; now, the LMD will focus solely on the alliance’s enlarged border while a separate district will focus on the Ukrainian and Polish border (with the Kremlin exclave Kaliningrad).
The Russian leader declared his intention to create the LMD after Finland joined Nato in April last year, more than doubling the alliance’s border with Russia.
The ISW claimed this was evidence that Russia was streamlining its efforts to fight its war in Ukraine while “preparing for a potential future large-scale conventional war against Nato in the long term”.
It comes as French President Emmanuel Macron said he “could not rule out” sending Nato troops into Ukraine to fight against Russia.