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New reports from Germany has revealed that Russia will likely be capable of launching an attack on NATO by 2030 and is ramping up efforts to disrupt Ukraine’s Western supporters through sabotage, German intelligence chiefs warned Monday.
Germany, Kyiv’s second biggest military backer behind only the United States, is itself being increasingly targeted by Russian spying and sabotage activities, they said.
“Whether we like it or not, we are in a direct confrontation with Russia,” BND foreign intelligence chief Bruno Kahl told a parliamentary hearing.
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President Vladimir Putin’s long-term goal was to weaken the West, Kahl said, while a military clash with NATO was “becoming an option for Russia”.
“In terms of personnel and material, Russian armed forces are likely to be capable of carrying out an attack against NATO by the end of the decade at the latest,” Kahl said.
Kahl spoke at a hearing in the Bundestag alongside the heads of Germany’s domestic and military intelligence services, who took turns to warn of the growing threat from Russia against the backdrop of the invasion of Ukraine.
“Russian espionage and sabotage in Germany are increasing, both qualitatively and quantitatively,” domestic intelligence chief Thomas Haldenwang said.
He listed suspected sabotage activities, including a near miss involving an exploding package and a DHL cargo plane.
The parcel had burst into flames on the ground at the airport in Leipzig in July before it could be loaded onto the plane, in what Haldenwang called a “lucky accident”.
“If it had exploded onboard during the flight, there would have been a crash and the debris could have hit all the people here in Germany who, openly or secretly, sympathise with Putin,” he said.