NATO General Warns of Nuclear War with Russia in 2017

Former NATO deputy commander in Europe believes Russia could attack the Baltic states next year and nuclear conflict would break out.

Former NATO deputy commander in Europe, General Alexander Richard Shirreff. Photo: NDC

Former NATO deputy commander in Europe, General Alexander Richard Shirreff, recently warned that a nuclear war with Russia could happen within the next year, if the bloc does not actively strengthen its defense capabilities in the Baltic region, according to the Independent.

General Shirreff said that Moscow is planning to "attack" NATO member countries in the region, namely Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, so the West needs to urgently increase its forces to prevent this threat.

"Russia possesses comprehensive nuclear capabilities, if a conflict occurs it will certainly lead to nuclear war," Mr. Shirreff affirmed.

In 2014, after retiring, Mr Shirreff wrote a book "War with Russia: 2017" about a hypothetical conflict between Europe and Russia. However, he affirmed to the BBC that the book was written based on real data.

According to the book, early next year, Russiacould use the pretext of protecting the Russian-speaking minority in the Baltic states to intervene in the region and "invade" three NATO member states.General Shirreff believes that NATO's weakness will promote this Russian plan.

According to VNE