The boss of the secret services was interviewed this morning by the Chamber of Deputies.
Facing elected officials, Bruno Kahl declared that a “direct military conflict with NATO” becomes “an option” for Russia.
An alert similar to that of the two other German intelligence services.
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The three German intelligence services agree. THE “unprecedented level” of Moscow’s current acts of interference is alarming. And it doesn’t bode well. Questioned during a public hearing in the Chamber of Deputies, they each in turn warned against the intensification of actions coming from Moscow, but also about the new capabilities of this country which continues to threaten the West.
“In human and material terms, the Russian armed forces will probably be able to carry out an attack against NATO by the end of this decade”for example estimated Bruno Kahl. According to the head of the German spy and counter-espionage services (BND), the situation is such that a “direct military conflict with NATO becomes an option for Russia.”
The Russian threat is “a real hurricane”
Proof of this desire, the director of the secret services claims to have information demonstrating that “Moscow prepares for further escalation in hybrid and covert actions.” With acts of interference (new window)who have reached a “unprecedented level”, the Kremlin would like “testing the West’s red lines”. Ultimate goal for Moscow: “Kick the United States out of Europe”bring back the “NATO borders in the 1990s” and create a “Russian sphere of influence” with the aim of consolidating a “new world order”, he listed.
An analysis shared by the three German intelligence services, all of which have identified the activities of the Russian secret services in the country. The president of the military counter-espionage service, Martina Rosenberg, thus reported a “significant increase in acts of espionage and sabotage” targeting the German army. They are on the rise in Germany,”both quantitatively and qualitatively.added the head of Domestic Intelligence, Thomas Haldenwang. In front of the deputies, the latter notably accused Moscow of being at the origin of the package which caught fire in a center of the carrier DHL in Leipzig in July. If the package “had it exploded on board during the flight, there would have been a crash”, he said, also mentioning disinformation campaigns and cases of use of spy drones (new window).
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To get elected officials to react in this country which has a very special relationship with Russia, the head of domestic intelligence used a meteorological metaphor. Of “storm”, the Russian threat has become in his eyes “a real hurricane”which moves “from east to west”. A way of expressing that the Baltic States and Poland, where Russian actions “are much more brutal than they are now here”are on the front line. A cry of alarm which adds to a long series of warnings sent by Western intelligence services.
