Today at 13:23
Russia’s violations of NATO airspace cannot be tolerated indefinitely, Czech President Petr Pavel said during a visit to the Karlovy Vary region, according to Novinky and UATV English.
“There are nations that just need to be told: don’t do this, or it will end badly. But for some, it must end badly so they understand this is not the way. Russians are testing this with us today. They are checking not only how air defenses of individual states work, how NATO’s integrated air defense system works, but also how determined we really are to defend ourselves,” Pavel said.
The Czech president emphasized that Russia only respects strength.
“In everything it does, Russia shows that it respects only power,” he said.
“From Russia’s point of view, the weak deserve nothing but to be walked over. Unfortunately, that’s how they have behaved for a long time.”
Pavel, a former NATO general, clarified that he does not call for shooting down a Russian fighter for every airspace violation.
“But if necessary, if they continue, then at some point it will probably be necessary to take such an action so that the Russians know there are rules that simply cannot be broken,” he said.
“Russians are not afraid of escalation, but they count on Europeans not acting.”
He recalled his military experience:
“When I was head of the NATO Military Committee, Russia repeatedly violated Turkish airspace. They provoked, tested how far they could go. When the Turks got angry after the tenth violation, they simply shot down one of the two or three planes — and there was peace.”
“Russia understood that it faced a force that did not tolerate its airspace being violated, and they stopped doing it.”
