The President of Germany’s Federal Intelligence Service (BND), Martin Jaeger, considers the threat of a military confrontation between Germany and Russia to be real. Die Welt reports this, UNN writes.
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"The confrontation in which we are engaged with Russia has taken on a new, more dangerous quality: Germany is at risk of being drawn into an armed conflict with Russia," Jaeger said on Monday during an open hearing of the Bundestag’s Parliamentary Oversight Committee.
According to Jaeger, Russian intelligence services are operating "highly professionally and ruthlessly." "The threat of attacks on targets in Germany remains real and current. We must counter it."
As an example of this escalation, he cited an attempted attack on Leipzig Airport, for which Berlin blamed Russia.
"No other country currently poses such a direct, comprehensive, and concrete threat to Germany. We did not seek this confrontation. Russia is imposing it on us, seeing us as its main adversary. Because we do not accept Russia’s revisionist, expansionist policy and its aggressive war against Ukraine," Jaeger said.
According to the official, the Russian leadership seeks "to ensure for the future that political decisions directed against Moscow are not made in Berlin or other European capitals." This results in "increasingly aggressive actions by Russian intelligence services" against Germany and other states.
"Russia is waging a shadow war against us. This undeclared war cannot be described using traditional military or legal categories. We are not in a state of defense, yet we are still under attack—that is precisely what a shadow war is," the official said.
"Russia seeks to undermine Europe’s political support for Ukraine. We must be prepared for attempts at intimidation and further interference. Nuclear threats will likely be heard again," the head of the BND added.
However, according to Jaeger, at present the intelligence agency sees no signs of a large-scale Russian attack on NATO territory. Nevertheless, "Russian military action on a limited scale" is possible, particularly in the Baltic states, the head of Germany’s intelligence service уточнив.