Russia will likely be capable of attacking the North Atlantic Alliance by the year 2030, German intelligence services warned on Monday, noting the ‚unprecedented level‘ of interference by Moscow currently at play, according to the France-Presse agency..
Bruno Kahl, the head of Germany’s foreign intelligence and counter-intelligence services (BND), estimated during a public hearing in the Bundestag (the German federal parliament) that ‚in terms of personnel and materials, the Russian armed forces will probably be able to carry out an attack against NATO by the end of this decade.‘.
According to him, ‚a direct military conflict with NATO is becoming an option for Russia.‘.
Simultaneously, all three German intelligence agencies—heard in parliament on Monday—warned about the increasing danger posed, in their opinion, by the activities of Russian intelligence services operating in the country.
Martina Rosenberg, head of military counterintelligence, reported a ‚significant increase in acts of espionage and sabotage‘ targeting the German military.
‚Russian espionage and sabotage are growing in Germany, both quantitatively and qualitatively,‘ agreed Thomas Haldenwang, head of the domestic intelligence services.
‚The Russian threat has become a true hurricane moving from east to west‘
Haldenwang accused Moscow of being behind the incident of a package that caught fire at a DHL transport center in Leipzig (eastern Germany) in July.
If that package ‚had exploded onboard during the flight, there would have been an aviation disaster,‘ he noted, also mentioning Russia’s disinformation campaigns and incidents involving spy drones.
From a ‚storm,‘ the Russian threat has ‚become a true hurricane‘ moving ‚from east to west,‘ he added metaphorically, referring to the Baltic states and Poland, where Russian actions are ‚much more brutal than they are at this moment here.‘.
According to BND chief Bruno Kahl, ‚Moscow is preparing for a new escalation in hybrid and covert actions.‘.
Through acts of interference that have reached an ‚unprecedented level,‘ the Kremlin aims to ‚test the red lines of the West,‘ explained the director of the German intelligence services.
Last Wednesday, the government in Berlin announced measures aimed at strengthening security controls, particularly on social media, in light of the increased risks of espionage against German ministries and sabotage of critical infrastructure.
