BERLIN: Germany’s chief of defence has warned that the West must not underestimate Moscow’s military strength, saying Russia has the scope to open up a second front should it choose to do so.

“The bulk of the Russian land forces may be tied down in Ukraine at the moment but, even so, we should not underestimate the Russian land forces’ potential to open a second theatre of war,” Gen Eberhard Zorn, the highest-ranking soldier of the Bundeswehr, said in an interview.

Beyond the army, Russia also has a navy and air force at its disposal, he added. “Most of the Russian navy has not yet been deployed in the war on Ukraine, and the Russian air force still has significant potential as well, which poses a threat to Nato too,” Zorn said.

The Bundeswehr regularly supports Nato air policing missions over the Baltic states with fighter jets and, having one of the strongest fleets in the region, is also keeping a close eye on the developments in the Baltic Sea at its doorstep.

One potential hotspot there is Kaliningrad, a Russian exclave sandwiched between Nato members Poland and Lithuania, that hosts Russia’s Baltic naval fleet and is a deployment location for Russian nuclear-capable Iskander missiles.

Russia has threatened to station nuclear and hypersonic weapons in Kaliningrad should Finland and Sweden join Nato as they are in the process of doing.

Zorn, the German defence chief, speaking before the start of a Ukrainian offensive in the south, stressed that Russia continued to have substantial reserves.

“As concerns its military, Russia is very well capable of expanding the conflict regionally,” the general said. “That this would be a very unreasonable thing for Russia to do is a different story.”

Published in Dawn, September 1st, 2022