U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said the United States “will not rely on the Cold War playbook” in dealing with Russia, but instead will rely on a combination of military and non-military tools to counter Russian aggression in Ukraine.

He spoke in Berlin before traveling Tuesday to Estonia for meetings with the defense ministers of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, which were forcibly incorporated into the Soviet Union.

Carter said the U.S. will contribute special operations forces, intelligence and other military assets to a new NATO rapid reaction force, in part to help Europe counter any Russian aggression.

He said there is neither a desire for a return to a Cold War nor for a new, active conflict with Russia, and that economic sanctions on Russia are having the desired effect of imposing economic hardship on Moscow. 

Carter will meet with NATO defense ministers Wednesday and Thursday in Brussels to discuss plans for dealing with Russia following its annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula and its military support of Ukrainian separatists.

Carter intends to cover a U.S. proposal to send enough tanks and other military equipment to outfit a brigade for exercises and other training programs in Eastern Europe.  The defense chief has not officially approved the idea, and officials have not said exactly where the equipment would go, but there are indications that Poland, which borders Russia, could be one location.

Carter said Monday that while the West is not looking to be enemies with Russia, it will defend itself if necessary.

“Ukraine is only one part of our larger concerns these days about Russia.  In response, we are taking a strong but balanced strategic approach, an approach that seeks to ensure Russia cannot force anyone to turn towards the past, all the while welcoming and encouraging Russia to turn back towards the future,” Carter said.

Speaking to reporters earlier Monday while en route to Berlin, Carter said the challenge posed by Russia today under the leadership of President Vladimir Putin is different from challenge posed by the Soviet Union during the Cold War. The new challenge, he said, includes such elements as “hybrid warfare” — a military strategy that blends conventional warfare, irregular warfare and cyberwarfare.

“It’s not like it was in the old days,” he said. “We are looking at NATO responses that are much more mobile, much more agile, able to respond on short time lines, because that’s how events today unfold, unlike a quarter let alone a half a century ago. That’s why we’re attentive to the hybrid aspects of potential contingencies. … And then there are new domains like cyber and so forth that certainly were not part of things back in the Cold War.”

Also Monday, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said the alliance will more than double the size of its rapid-response force, from its current 13,000 personnel to 30,000 or 40,000 troops.
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