Thread by @morcos_pierre

"We see today that the Russian armed forces are not that ready to carry out high-intensity operations", according to the French chief of defense staff General Burkhard (@CEMA_FR) in a fascinating conversation with @StaciePettyjohn from @cnas. A 🧵 on his remarks:

"High intensity conflict is on a true different scale compared to the counter-terrorist operations we have carried out for the last 20 years. This ambition requires time: we need to modernize our equipment and to train our units at brigade, division and even army corp levels."

"It does not mean that we would not be able to engage in high-intensity operations right now but not with all the assets we identified and the appropriate level of training. We need to speed up the process but let us not lie to ourselves."

"When you have a look at the Russian armed forces and their current operations in Ukraine, they clearly are not that ready to carry out high-intensity operations. They are lacking of seamlessness, of initiative, of artillery support or of precision in their air strikes."

"Our support to Ukraine is very strong but we cannot become co-belligerent. This is the thin thread we are walking on. So, we have to provide weapons to Ukraine but in a reasonable way and a mastered level of visibility. We should not communicate too much about this."

The General Burkhard then mentioned the "strong contribution" of France to NATO’s deterrence and defense posture across Europe in the air (air policing missions in Poland, Romania and Bulgaria), at sea (presence in the East Med) and on land (Estonia and Romania).

The French chief of defense concluded by explaining that the war in Ukraine proves that the collective defense of Europe is first and foremost based on NATO but also requires stronger investment from Europeans in their own capabilities to reinforce the alliance.

Full conversation is available here (we also mentioned the Sahel and the Indo-Pacific) 👇
cnas.org/events/firesid…