Russian Chief of Staff Gerasimov Gives Briefing on NATO Threat and Russia’s Battlefield Laser Systems

Dec. 18, 2019 (EIRNS)—The Chief of Russia’s General Staff, First Deputy Minister of Defense Gen. Valery Gerasimov, briefed military attachés in Moscow on Dec. 17, making several statements on NATO and on Russia’s deployment of its laser battlefield system, as reported in the Defense Ministry newspaper Krasnaya Zvezda. His full briefing, which was attended by about 150 representatives of the military diplomatic corps from more than 70 countries, is posted to the Defense Ministry website.

Gerasimov criticized what Russia sees as a NATO buildup on the “eastern flank” as an obvious threat to Russia. Pointing to the deployment of U.S. missile defense components in Europe, an increase of military exercises in the Baltic countries and Poland, the Black Sea, and Baltic Sea, he described how NATO’s scenarios point to “targeted preparation for engaging its forces in a large-scale military conflict.

“At the same time, the Western allies are advancing the thesis of the so-called Russian military threat. Any step of Russia in the field of ensuring its military security, any planned and ongoing event to build an army and navy is presented as a threat to peace,” he said.

Gerasimov stated that there is an urgent need for a dialogue between Russia and NATO: “The reduction of risks of dangerous military incidents should remain the most important area in the dialogue between Russia with the United States and NATO. It is necessary to resume interaction between Russia and NATO in order to resolve the accumulated problematic issues,” Gerasimov said.

When asked by Norway’s representative if there were a possibility of a major war in the future by 2050, and in what areas it could be waged, the General Gerasimov replied:

“In our opinion, there are currently no prerequisites for a large-scale war. At the same time, the situation in the world remains unstable, and its development is becoming more and more dynamic. Unprecedented political, economic, and information pressure is exerted on states trying to pursue an independent policy, including Russia. In such conditions, we can’t rule out that crises could emerge that may get out of control and develop into a large-scale military conflict.

“We must be prepared for any scenario of the development of the situation. Therefore, the defense potential of Russia will now and in the future be maintained at a level required to repel any-scale aggression against our state from any environment,”

Gerasimov said.

After mentioning that “three missile regiments of Strategic Missile Forces have been re-equipped with modern Yars missile systems,” and that the Avangard ICBM “will take combat duty in the near future,” Gerasimov also announced: “Since early December, Peresvet laser systems have been on combat duty in the positional areas of mobile ground missile systems with the task of covering up their maneuvering operations.”

Peresvet is one of the advanced systems that President Vladimir Putin announced during his annual Address to the Federal Assembly on March 1, 2018, along with the Avangard and Kinzhal hypersonic missile systems, and the Poseidon underwater drone.