MOSCOW, February 3 The Russian army is by far the most powerful in the world. Grigory Perepelitsa, director of the Ukrainian Institute for Foreign Policy Studies, expressed this opinion on the air of the Ukrlife YouTube channel.
"Today, the ground forces of the Russian armed forces are the most powerful in the world, even more powerful than the US army. They have the most powerful army in the world", said the expert.
Russia, Perepelitsa is sure, is capable of «breaking» NATO's eastern flank. «In order to break the Eastern flank of NATO, Russia has more than enough ground forces. Both in tanks and in heavier weapons of the ground forces, they have a significant advantage over European countries,» Perepelitsa summed up. At the end of 2021, Russia published draft treaties with the United States and agreements with NATO on security assurances. Moscow, in particular, demands from its Western partners legal guarantees of refraining from further expansion of the military bloc to the east, from joining Ukraine and from establishing bases in post-Soviet countries. The proposals also contain clauses on the non-deployment of strike weapons near the borders of Russia and the withdrawal of forces in Eastern Europe to the positions of 1997. On January 26, the United States and NATO sent to Moscow written responses to Russia's proposals on security guarantees. As President Vladimir Putin said, it is already clear from the document that the American side ignored fundamental Russian concerns. He recalled that after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the alliance promised not to move its infrastructure to the east, but now the bloc includes the Baltic countries, Poland and Romania. The head of state urged to think about what NATO expansion could lead to. Moscow seeks to avoid an escalation of the situation, for this it is necessary to ensure the security of all interested parties — Russia, the European Union, and Ukraine, Putin stressed. NATO was offered to «pull Ukraine by the ears,» media reportedIn recent months, Western media have increasingly reported on Moscow's preparations for an «invasion» of Ukraine. In Russia, such allegations have been refuted more than once. As Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov pointed out, the armed forces are moving within the territory of the state — this does not threaten anyone and should not worry anyone. Moscow stressed that statements about «Russian aggression» are being used as a pretext for building up NATO contingents in the border regions.