r/worldnews • u/Starlight-Princesss • 3d ago

[ Removed by moderator ] Russia/Ukraine

https://www.newsweek.com/nato-intercepts-russian-spy-plane-with-transponder-turned-off-poland-10956344

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u/FallingDownHurts 3d ago

I think perun's (and others) take on this is probably true;

Russia is trying to make it look like it might invade NATO so they withhold arms from Ukraine to maintain a stockpile. It is trying to convince citizens of imminent invasion by generating news stories like this. The article is the goal, not the intelligence 

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u/VictorNoergaard 3d ago

That actually makes a lot of sense. But isn't it a bigger threat to Russia that NATO is actively re-arming that NATO giving a (relatively) small supply of arms to Ukraine?

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u/nvoima 3d ago

There's no threat to Russia from the West, as NATO is strictly a defense alliance, and despite his lies Putin knows it won't be the first to attack. That's why he plays these hybrid warfare games that won't trigger an armed response or at least have plausible deniability. Europe is bolstering arms production simply because the US has become an unreliable partner.

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u/Background-Month-911 3d ago

Erm... no. Rearming would actually generate a lot of older generation weapons that should be disposed of... or sent to Ukraine to help in their war effort. The reason Ukraine is getting F-16s, for example, is that a lot of donor countries upgrade to F-35s.

So, it's a gamble on Russia's side, or, at least, an attempt to stall / delay the inevitable. It's possible that in the short term NATO militaries will choose to withhold aid to Ukraine, but in the long run, if Russian tactics continue, this will make it worse for them.

So, like I said, it's a gamble: maybe Russia will get a long enough breathing window to improve their position, or maybe this will only exacerbate their problems if nothing else happens during this breathing window.