German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius warned on Sunday that Berlin must be ready to respond to any hybrid attack from Russia in the run-up to the federal election and subsequent elections.
A hybrid attack is a comprehensive cyberattack that uses multiple methods to infiltrate and compromise a target’s IT system, network, or device.
Pistorius’ comments followed warnings from Germany’s spy chiefs in October about the growing threat posed by the Kremlin.
What did Pistorius say?
“(Russian President Vladimir) Putin is carrying out hybrid attacks, which Germany is particularly focused on,” Pistorius told the Funke Mediengruppe newspaper group.
“He knows us well, and Putin knows how to sting us,” the defense minister added. “Ignoring this threat because it’s unpleasant will only make it bigger, not smaller.”
Pistorius cited recent incidents targeting Germany’s infrastructure and energy supplies, including activities blamed on Russia in the North Sea and Baltic Sea.
He said the threat could come from disinformation on social media engineered by Kremlin supporters to divide German society, which could help far-right and populist parties. Ta.
“There is also social media campaigning, interference in election campaigns, and funding of voices such as the far-right Alternative for Germany AfD and BSW (populist group Sala Wagenknecht Union). We claim we don’t care about our policies. We can protect ourselves, but we are headed for war with Russia. ”
“We must do everything possible to prevent President Putin’s strategy from succeeding,” Pistorius added.
Russia’s military spending is a threat to NATO
Although there is no immediate military threat from Russia, the defense minister warned that Putin could rearm his country by 2030 and give it the ability to attack NATO members.
“We have to expect that in the coming years President Putin could test how united NATO is by marching into any part of the alliance’s territory,” Pistorius told the newspaper group. Ta.
Since launching a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Putin has turned Russia into a war economy, producing more arms and ammunition in a few months than all European Union members do in a year. the minister added.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government also increased military spending after the invasion, bringing Berlin’s defense spending into line with NATO targets for the first time in decades.
Asked if Germany was in the position it needed militarily, Pistorius said: “We are on a good path.”
He noted that 97 large-scale projects worth 58 billion euros ($60.5 billion) were launched this year alone, surpassing last year’s record. But he added that it will take longer than the legislative period to close the 30-year funding gap.
On Wednesday, the German Navy received key approval to expand its fleet by ordering four more advanced submarines in a deal worth around 4.7 billion euros with ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (TKMS).
Pistorius also said this week that Berlin plans to increase the size of its military from the current target of 203,000 to 230,000.
However, the minister told Funke newspaper that Germany’s defense sector “needs time to increase its production capacity for weapons and ammunition” as production of tanks, frigates and submarines could take several years. .
Mr. Pistorius has the highest approval rating among the public.
Separately, a Bild am Sonntag newspaper poll placed Pistorius at the top of the annual ranking of German politicians.
Some 46% of those surveyed by Insa said they thought the defense minister should have as much influence as possible on German politics next year.
Conservative Bavaria’s Chancellor Markus Söder (CSU) received 38% on the same question, while Scholz came in sixth place with 28% support.
Scholz followed BSW leader Wagenknecht, centre-right CDU leader Friedrich Merz and AfD co-chair Alice Weidel.
mm/sms (dpa, Reuters)
