{"id":1234531,"date":"2025-10-16T20:01:00","date_gmt":"2025-10-16T17:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/?p=1234531"},"modified":"2025-10-14T00:53:39","modified_gmt":"2025-10-13T21:53:39","slug":"russia-has-entered-phase-zero-of-its-campaign-to-prepare-for-a-possible-war-against-nato-isw","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/russia-has-entered-phase-zero-of-its-campaign-to-prepare-for-a-possible-war-against-nato-isw\/","title":{"rendered":"Russia has entered \u201cPhase Zero\u201d of its campaign to prepare for a possible war against NATO — ISW"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Estonian authorities temporarily closed a section of road passing through Russian territory near the Russia-Estonia border on October 10 after Estonian border guards observed a small group of Russian military personnel without insignia in the area, according to the report, as seen by Ukrinform.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meelis Saarepuu, the head of the South Prefecture of the Estonian Police and Border Guard Board, reported on October 11 that Estonian authorities closed a nearly kilometer-long section of the road between Varska and Saatse, a portion of which runs through Russian territory, for safety reasons after observing seven armed Russian servicemembers near the Russian section of the road the day before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saarepuu said that judging by the uniforms of the soldiers, they were not Russian border guards. Saarepuu reported that Russian border guards answered Estonian border guards\u2019 inquiries by claiming that the Russian activity in the area was routine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Estonian Foreign Minister\u00a0Margus Tsakhna stated on October 12 that\u00a0Russian forces are operating \u201csomewhat more assertively and visibly than before\u201d but that reports that the border situation is becoming more tense are exaggerated. Tsakhna noted that Estonian authorities plan to stop using the road altogether in the future, as there are alternative routes that bypass Russian territory already available or currently under construction.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reports of a small group of Russian servicemembers operating near Estonian territory come against the backdrop of Russian military aircraft violating Estonian airspace on September 7 and 19.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cISW continues to assess that Russia has recently intensified its covert and overt attacks against Europe and that Russia has entered \u201cPhase Zero\u201d \u2014 the informational and psychological condition setting phase \u2014 of its campaign to prepare for a possible NATO-Russia war in the future. This event is the first instance of ISW observing \u201clittle green men\u201d (a euphemism the Kremlin uses for the Russian military forces in unmarked uniforms) operating near a NATO state in the context of the \u201cPhase Zero\u201d campaign,\u201d the report says.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

As previously reported, citing ISW experts, Russian sabotage and espionage activities indicate preparations for a possible war with NATO as early as 2036.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Estonian authorities temporarily closed a section of road passing through Russian territory …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":1234532,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,49,36415,36422],"tags":[76,78],"sources":[],"class_list":["post-1234531","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-news-en","category-11473-news-en","category-11473-news-en-3","tag-glavnoe-en","tag-homepage-en"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nRussia has entered \u201cPhase Zero\u201d of its campaign to prepare for a possible war against NATO - ISW - Freedom<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/uatv.ua\/en\/russia-has-entered-phase-zero-of-its-campaign-to-prepare-for-a-possible-war-against-nato-isw\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Russia has entered \u201cPhase Zero\u201d of its campaign to prepare for a possible war against NATO - 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