German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius has reiterated claims that Russia could attack NATO countries within a few years.
"It's less about concretely preparing for an attack," Pistorius told ZDF TV, but added that "you don't know if and when it will occur, then that means you have to arm yourself — and that's what we're currently doing together with the allies in NATO."
Pistorius appears to be setting up the pretext of an external threat simply as an argument for a bigger budget for his ministry, which is currently below the NATO benchmark of two percent of annual gross domestic product (GDP).
Aside from arming Ukraine for its proxy conflict with Russia, the US-dominated alliance has upped the ante with establishment of the Lithuanian Brigade rapid-response unit along with increased military spending on arms and munitions in the face of a speculative "Russian offensive". Pistorius argued that those preparations were essential despite the tenuous justification of the threat.
Pistorius' comments echoed a report in German daily newspaper Bild. Quoting a "confidential Bundeswehr document", it claimed that a conflict between NATO and Russia could erupt as soon as the summer of 2025. The Kremlin has dismissed the report as "fake news," with spokesman Dmitry Peskov doubting Bild's credibility.
The speculation came as NATO, Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg called for a significant boost in defense spending by member states. That push comes as the German economy faces challenges, recording the lowest growth rate among euro area economies since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the German Council of Economic Experts. Soaring energy prices in 2022 thanks to Western sanctions on Russia have hit energy-intensive German industries hard.
10 December 2023, 02:38 GMT
But contradicting Pistorius, the NATO chief said on Thuesday that the alliance currently sees no "direct or imminent threat" to any of its members.
"We don't see any direct or imminent threat against any NATO ally and therefore, of course, we are monitoring closely what Russia does. We are increasing our vigilance, our presence in the eastern part of the alliance," Stoltenberg said.
Earlier in the day, NATO member states agreed a new package for large-scale investment contracts worth $1.2 billion for the production of artillery shells.
NATO has been strengthening its eastern flank along the borders with Russia and Belarus since late 2021 by dispatching additional troops. In response to the launch Moscow's military operation in Ukraine in February 2022, NATO has sent more ships, planes and ground troops to the region and put them on high alert.
Now NATO is holding the Steadfast Defender exercises, the biggest since the Cold War. Russia says those drills raise the risk of unintended military confrontation and undermines security in Europe.
"These exercises are another element of the hybrid war unleashed by the West against Russia. The exercises of such scale — 90,000 servicepeople with the participation of 31 countries - mark the final and irrevocable return of NATO to the Cold War support schemes, when the military planning process, resources and infrastructure are being prepared for confrontation with Russia," Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko told Sputnik.
He also noted that the preparation for the exercises "takes place in an artificially heated atmosphere of military psychosis."
Addressing the motives behind of the "irresponsible statements about a possible war with Russia" Grushko said it is clear that "by demonizing Russia, intimidating the average person, to justify the unbridled increase in military spending and the completely failed policy of supporting the Kiev regime with the aim of inflicting a strategic defeat on Russia."