The “Salami Principle”: How Putin Tests NATO for Strength

Russian dictator Vladimir Putin is seeking to test NATO’s strength by staging various provocations on the EU’s borders. The Kremlin is watching the West’s reaction to see if the Alliance is ready for a decisive response, and the lack of appropriate action could encourage Russia to take further aggressive steps.

This opinion was expressed on the air of “Pryamoye” by military observer Denys Popovych.

He is convinced that Russia’s intentions to abandon the moratorium on the deployment of intermediate-range missiles are an attempt to intimidate Europe and test the readiness of NATO and the United States to respond to such threats.

“This is primarily intimidation. This is an attempt to demonstrate that, after exiting this moratorium, it will continue to deploy medium-range missiles. First of all, this concerns “Oreshnik”. The same “Oreshnik” who appears in any attempts at intimidation by Putin. This is the first aspect. The second aspect is that this always happens when the world hegemon, the role of which the USA claimed, begins to fight autism. We now hear that Donald Trump very often says that he has something terrible that can solve the problem of autism. The head of the most powerful state in the world has no other problems than fighting medical problems,” Popovich noted.

“I don’t want to say anything about the fight against this terrible disease, but I think it’s not the US president’s problem to deal with it. But when he thinks it needs to be dealt with, similar statements from Putin immediately arise,” the military observer added.

Commenting on the statement by Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk that the country’s air defense forces would shoot down Russian targets if they posed a threat, he expressed his belief that with such provocations, the Kremlin is only testing NATO’s readiness for decisive action based on the “salami principle.”

“The Russian Federation will now do everything to ensure that the principle of collective security does not exist. How do they work? Well, 20 Gerbers flew there, as many as were found on the territory of Poland. Well, dear ones, you will not start a war with us now, will you? You will not. Well, okay, then there is no need. Then three MiGs fly in. Well, you will not start a war with us now, will you? Well, we will not… And then the little green men will enter the Suwałki Corridor: oh my God – now we will jointly manage this Suwałki Corridor, and we will use everything wonderfully. Well, why disrupt military activity because of this?” – the studio guest thinks.

“And so it is according to the salami principle – more, more, more… And when there is already a lot of it, then it turns out that the fifth article does not work from the word “at all”. That’s how the Russian Federation acts. And now it is trying to act in exactly this way. And it monitors the reaction or lack of reaction to their actions,” summed up military observer Denis Popovych.

The day before, Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski made a tough statement against Russia, stressing that NATO countries will not allow themselves to be intimidated and are ready to respond to any provocations by the Kremlin. In his opinion, this is part of the hybrid war that Moscow has been waging against the West for years.

In addition, the United Kingdom has threatened to shoot down Russian aircraft if they violate the airspace of NATO member states. The country’s Foreign Ministry called the Russian actions “dangerous and reckless”, capable of undermining the territorial integrity of sovereign states and European security. It also warned that deliberate provocations by the Kremlin could lead to a direct armed clash between NATO and Russia.

Meanwhile, on September 21, NATO scrambled two German fighter jets to intercept a Russian reconnaissance plane over the Baltic Sea. It is worth noting that the situation in the region has recently escalated due to violations of the airspace of various countries by Russian aircraft.

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