MOSCOW, July 28. /TASS/. NATO's new €27 billion fuel infrastructure, planned for deployment near the borders of Russia and Belarus, is critically vulnerable to precision strikes because Cold War-era networks were not designed to withstand modern weaponry, military expert Boris Rozhin wrote in an op-ed for TASS.
According to Rozhin, ambassadors from the 32 NATO member states approved the modernization project in July. The plan involves upgrading 10,000 kilometers of pipelines and constructing new networks, primarily in the Baltic states, Poland, and Romania. While the alliance aims to complete the project by 2030, experts warn that delays could push the timeline into the 2040s.
"In today's reality, this infrastructure has proven to be critically vulnerable. The conflict in Ukraine clearly demonstrates that sprawling and insufficiently buried fuel and lubricant facilities are easily destroyed by precision-guided weapons," Rozhin wrote.
According to Rozhin, the foundation of the system is the Central Europe Pipeline System (CEPS) network which spans approximately 5,300 kilometers, with pipeline diameters ranging from 6 to 12 inches, built back in the 1950s. Their burial depth of 1 to 1.5 meters was considered sufficient due to the Soviet Union's lack of precision-guided weapons. However, in a direct conflict scenario today, these fuel arteries would become priority targets.
