Kremlin set to launch hybrid aggression against the Alliance - mass media

Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin is ready to launch a hybrid war against NATO. He intends to look for weaknesses in the alliance and take steps to break it up. The British publication The Telegraph analyses the geopolitical situation in Europe.

Putin has set himself the goal of "taking NATO apart and identifying the Alliance's weaknesses," the publication says.

The authors of the material note that probably the new point of application of destabilising efforts of Moscow in the West will be the Balkans, which, according to the analysts of the publication, are the weakest flank of NATO.

The Telegraph recalls that last week a group of armed Serbs ambushed a Kosovo police patrol, killing one policeman and three Serbs.

This escalation is one of the most serious since 2008, when Kosovo declared independence from Serbia," the publication notes.

It is pointed out that Moscow has long been making efforts to foment conflict in the Balkans, propagandising the war and in every possible way "pitting" Serbs and Kosovars against each other.

By using hybrid methods without sending its troops to the region, Putin seeks to achieve three goals: to distract the West from Ukraine, to strengthen Moscow's position in the region and to give Putin leverage over Western states by blackmailing them with the threat of escalation of the conflict in the region," the newspaper said.

Analysts warn that "the Kosovo crisis could easily spill over into northern Macedonia, a NATO member state, and would have serious implications for European defence at a time when the US is distracted by the upcoming elections."

It is time for NATO to strengthen its presence in the region and put Russia on the defensive," the author of the publication writes.