[Skybird]

[Frankfurter Rundschau] Nato grows to 32 states with Sweden: Hungary agreed to join on Monday. On the same day, Kremlin leader Putin signed two decrees and reorganized the military structure in Russia.
Moscow - The military situation in Ukraine is tense. Kiev's troops are coming under increasing pressure due to a lack of ammunition. Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed two decrees on Monday (26 February) that reorganize the military in Russia. In doing so, the Kremlin leader is pursuing two goals, analyzed the war experts at the US think tank Institute for the Study of War (ISW). One of these is to prepare for a possible large-scale conventional war against NATO.

After months of stalling, Hungary approved Stockholm's application for membership of the North Atlantic defense alliance NATO on Monday. On the same day, Putin ordered a reorganization of his military structure. What sounds like a bureaucratic act at first glance may provide an insight into strategic plans. According to ISW, the decrees signed by the Kremlin chief officially re-establish the Moscow and Leningrad military districts and withdraw the Russian Northern Fleet's status as headquarters. The military district commands are thus to be restored as the primary headquarters for the Russian ground forces and the naval resources are to be assigned to the Russian navy, the ISW report continues.

The second decree also incorporates the Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk and Luhansk regions of occupied Ukraine into the southern military district. In 2022, Moscow held sham referendums in Ukraine and annexed the four regions in violation of international law - as it had already done with the Crimean peninsula in 2014. The inclusion of "both the occupied and unoccupied parts of Ukrainian territory also indicates that Russia is pursuing maximalist goals in Ukraine and is seeking to fully incorporate all five of these Ukrainian territories into the Russian Federation", according to the ISW analysis.

The US war experts go on to say that the realignment supports the parallel goals of "consolidating control over Russian operations in Ukraine in the short to medium term and preparing for a possible future large-scale conventional war against NATO in the long term." The Leningrad military district will now run along NATO's north-eastern border, while the Moscow military district will border north-eastern Ukraine and Poland. This would allow Russia to "simultaneously position itself against NATO and maintain its command and control over the region".

https://www.understandingwar.org/bac...bruary-26-2024