'How Depleted Are They?': Randy Fine Asks State Official About Time For Russia To Rebuild Military

Hinzugefügt: 2026-05-19

[00:00:00]back.

[00:00:01]>> Uh, thank you. U, Mr. Secretary, we have other members that are on short final coming in. So, I will ask you a question while we're waiting on them to arrive because they really are close. Uh, can you comment? We've we've mentioned it, but we haven't really talked about uh sabotage incidents against critical undersea infrastructure in the Baltic Sea. Can you address that for us, please?

[00:00:25]>> Yes, sir. Mr. Chairman, this is a serious concern. Uh, as you're aware, since roughly October 2023, shadow fleet vessels have on a number of occasions um interfered with or damaged uh undersea critical undersea infrastructure, both communications infrastructure, but also gas uh pipelines.

[00:00:48]uh we fielded in January of 2025 uh operation NATO's operation Baltic sentry and the Baltic nations are critical uh allies contributing to this effort uh designed to counter just these types of threats but now we are told that there are many of these most are accidents around the world every week uh what is your assessment of these in the Baltic Sea There are uh cases where this does happen accidentally. Um I would have to take for the record uh a more detailed analysis relying on intelligence and other methods to provide you an answer, sir.

[00:01:32]>> Okay. Uh very good. I yield back and I now recognize the representative from far Florida, Mr. Fine.

[00:01:38]>> Well, thank you. I want to thank you for being here today on this important subject. Um, actually some of my family's roots are in Lithuania. So, it's an it's an issue that's of importance to me. I think there's no region of the world that's probably most closely watching what's happening between Russia and Ukraine than these three little countries that I assume would be next on the menu for Russia if they were able to succeed in Ukraine.

[00:02:02]So, I I've got a some questions that I appreciate your perspective on. Um, over the course of the Ukraine war, Russia suffered over a million casualties, had its strategic bomber fleet decimated and operated spiderweb, and lost an enormous amount of military equipment like tanks and armored fighting vehicles. How does Russia's military loss affect its ability to project power and threaten our NATO allies in the Baltic region?

[00:02:27]>> The Baltic allies, as you know, view the outcome of the war in Ukraine as really critical to their own national security.

[00:02:34]Um what we have seen the Russians do is try to compensate. About 90% of their combat capability is committed to the war in Ukraine. They've tried to compensate by increasing pressure on the Baltic allies through hybrid tactics whether they're cyber tactics as we mentioned earlier under sea uh infrastructure uh and of course um military posturing on the on the front lines with the forces that they have available.

[00:02:59]>> Okay. So they have been the military side has been depleted, which is I think a good thing. Um um if when this comes to conclusion with with Ukraine, however it does, um how could Russia rebuild its forces? What would it take? How long do we have any sense for that? Um and and to pose a threat to NATO. I mean like is this a two weeks? I don't think it's two weeks, but two months, two years, 20 years. I mean, how depleted are they?

[00:03:28]I think uh most estimates are that it would take them a number of years to be able to reconstitute the force that they had available in 2022 when they first uh this war began uh at least in this phase. Uh my impression however is that certain battlefield technologies that the Russians have developed similar to Ukraine and really become masters of also present new dilemmas for NATO and for the United States. We are responding to that by making sure that we're learning lessons from the battlefield as well and fielding the capabilities to ensure we can deter uh any future uh aggression.

[00:04:05]>> You mean like drone warfare?

[00:04:07]>> Drone counter drone warfare uh autonomous systems, ground drones, naval drones. It uh these are the uh systems I'm talking about.

[00:04:16]>> So when it comes to the Baltics, the threats in the Baltics, we usually discuss Russia. Makes sense. They're next door. Um, but I was hoping you could describe the threats posed to the Baltic region by the People's Republic of China.

[00:04:28]>> The Baltic region um views directly its relationship with the People's Republic of China through the lens of the war in Ukraine. They see that 80% of dual use goods uh provided to the Russian Defense Industrial Base are sourced from China or come through China and they are evaluating that as they assess their economic relationship with China.

[00:04:51]Okay. Well, we we've seen some of our NATO allies. Frankly, I've incredible disappointment, not the subject of today, but whether it's Turkey or or or Spain, which I question if they even are our allies anymore. Um, but we've seen others like France take very naive approaches to the PRC and the threat they pose to NATO. Um, what outreach efforts has the department taken to inform our NATO allies both in the Baltics and beyond of the PRC's threat in this theater?

[00:05:19]We've had extensive conversations with our Baltic allies on this subject. I would also argue that they are advocates for the EU and all of its member states taking uh a similar approach as they evaluate that block's uh relationship with China.

[00:05:35]>> What can we do to help them? You know, obviously they get it because they're seeing it. We get it. But again, you've got some of these other countries that seem to have their head in the sand.

[00:05:44]What can we do to help them? I think continuing information sharing, continuing coordination with like-minded allies in the EU, which is not just confined, of course, to the Baltics, although they are leading voices on this issue.

[00:05:56]>> Well, look, I, as I said, I think this is a real issue. These small countries um are right next to Russia. I think they're next on the menu if Russia were able to be successful in Ukraine. I think part of the reason why Ukraine matters is that wasn't that wasn't an end point for Putin. That was a beginning point. And so I appreciate that your work that we're doing and also pointing out the idea that I think that it's now the PRC that is supplying Russia as you've pointed out with much of what they need and that they are frankly an enemy of these countries as well even though it can seem very very far away. Russia is the largest country in the world and it's the only country in between China and these states. So thank you for what you do. I appreciate it and and I yield back.

[00:06:38]>> Thank you sir. I now recognize the representative