Bild reports Austrian analyst Franz-Stefan Gady says a 2026 war game showed Russia could destabilize NATO with 15,000 troops and internal alliance divisions.
Austrian military analyst Franz-Stefan Gady concluded, based on the results of a war game, that the Kremlin could destabilize NATO with just a few thousand soldiers. Bild reported this.
In the simulated 2026 conflict scenario, Russia — after a ceasefire in Ukraine — uses a humanitarian crisis in Kaliningrad as a pretext to send troops into Lithuania under the guise of creating a «humanitarian corridor.»
Gady, playing the role of the head of the Russian General Staff, deployed only 15,000 soldiers. Using drones and mines, they blocked key transport arteries, paralyzing NATO reinforcements.
In the war game, the United States did not immediately trigger Article 5, Germany hesitated, and Poland mobilized but did not intervene directly. Gady argued that such internal divisions and indecision allow even limited forces to trigger an existential crisis inside NATO.