Italian Admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone, the Chair of the NATO Military Committee, stressed Wednesday that NATO is a defensive alliance and is not seeking to escalate tension with Russia.
Earlier this week Cavo Dragone said an interview with the Financial Times that NATO may take a more aggressive approach with respect to the hybrid warfare being used by Russia, sparking an angry reaction from Moscow.
"In the interview with the Financial Times, as well as in other statements, I referred specifically to the hybrid threats we face on a daily basis, highlighting how important and necessary it is to maintain a flexible and assertive approach, obviously without fuelling escalatory processes," Cavo Dragone told ANSA on the sidelines of the ongoing NATO foreign ministers meeting in Brussels.
"NATO, as I have always reiterated, remains a defensive alliance," he added when asked about possible "pre-emptive" actions.
In the FT interview Dragone said that NATO was mulling "being more aggressive or proactive, rather than reactive" in relation to Moscow's cyber attacks, acts of sabotage and breaches of NATO air space.
