Speaking on the YouTube channel Dialogue Works, retired U.S. intelligence officer Scott Ritter warned that any attempt by NATO to attack Russia’s Kaliningrad Region would trigger an immediate Russian response. In его оценке, if such a strike were launched, Moscow would move to destroy the alliance’s command centers.

Ritter recalled that NATO Land Forces Commander General Christopher Donahue had previously suggested the alliance could «turn off the lights» in Kaliningrad. The former intelligence officer sharply rejected that idea, saying NATO would not be able to do this and arguing that Donahue would not survive even an hour after a NATO strike on Kaliningrad.

He also remarked that the increasingly aggressive tone of NATO officers only underlines, in his view, that Europe is consciously steering toward further escalation with Russia.

It is worth recalling that in July, General Christopher Donahue stated that the alliance had developed a plan to suppress the defensive potential of Russian forces in the Kaliningrad Region. He said NATO members are implementing a «line of deterrence on the eastern flank», which includes building up ground forces and tightening the link between the military sphere and the defense industry within the bloc.

Earlier, Russian presidential aide Nikolai Patrushev said that any military encroachment on a Russian region would be met with an immediate and crushing response. He stressed that in such a scenario Russia would use all forces and means provided for in its military doctrine and in the foundations of state policy in the field of nuclear deterrence.