Czech president urges Nato to ‘show its teeth’ over Russia’s provocations

The Czech president, Petr Pavel, has urged Nato to “show its teeth” in response to Russia’s repeated testing of the alliance’s resolve on its eastern flank, suggesting a range of options including switching off its internet, cutting off its banks from global financial systems and shooting down jets that violate allied airspace.

Speaking to the Guardian in Prague, Pavel called for “decisive enough, potentially even asymmetric” responses to counter Moscow’s provocative behaviour against the alliance or risk the Kremlin intensifying its actions.

A retired general and former chair of the Nato military committee, the 64-year-old’s defence background is rare among European leaders. His years of experience talking to Moscow on the suspended Nato-Russia council have made him an influential voice on the future of the alliance and the threats it faces.

He expressed frustration with “a lack of determination to keep pushing from the United States on Russia”, although he steered clear of direct criticism of Donald Trump despite the US president continuing to cast doubt on the future of Washington’s commitments to the alliance.

Pavel has previously told Czech media: “Trump has done more to undermine the credibility of Nato over the last few weeks than Vladimir Putin has managed to do in many years.”

He waved away questions about this comment, saying he did not think “any direct criticism of the United States will help at this point”.

He focused instead on the need to push Nato members to take a firm line on Russia. After its illegal annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, he said Moscow had learned how Nato operated and “developed a behaviour style to almost meet the threshold for Article 5, but always keeping it slightly below that level.”

Article 5 of the Nato treaty states that an armed attack against one member is considered an attack against all members.

Pavel said Russian military leaders laughed at times at the alliance’s decision-making paralysis.

“When I asked them why do they do these provocative actions in the air, close encounters or overflights over battleships in the Black Sea or the Baltic Sea, their answer was ‘because we can’. That’s exactly the kind of behaviour we allowed,” he said.