German spy chief: Putin’s covert operations reach unprecedented level

Germany’s intelligence chiefs issued stark warnings about Russian espionage and preparations for military conflict with NATO at a parliamentary hearing Monday.

Moscow’s willingness to use hybrid and covert measures have reached a “level previously unseen,” said Bruno Kahl, the head of Germany’s foreign intelligence service, or BND, while also warning that “direct military confrontation with NATO has become an option for Moscow.”

The Kremlin’s goal is to divide the West in order to hinder Europe’s ability to defend itself while bolstering the Russian military in preparation for a potential attack, Kahl told parliamentarians.

“Putin will continue to test the West’s red lines and further escalate the confrontation,” he said. “The Russian armed forces will probably be in a position, in terms of personnel and material, to launch an attack against NATO by the end of this decade at the latest.” 

Kahl underscored that the Kremlin — which has been waging all-out war on neighboring Ukraine since February 2022 — is spending much more on its military than European countries, and is significantly bolstering its conventional forces.

“The focus of this buildup is, of course, in the strategic direction west along NATO’s eastern flank,” said Kahl.

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s ultimate aim, he said, is to “push the U.S. out of Europe” and to restore NATO boundaries of the late 1990s, according to Kahl, thereby creating a “Russian sphere of influence” and establishing a “new world order.”

Thomas Haldewang, the head of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution — Germany’s domestic intelligence agency — said his agency is observing “aggressive behavior by the Russian intelligence services” and that espionage and sabotage by Russian actors in Germany had increased “both quantitatively and qualitatively” with Russia even willing to “put human lives at risk.”

Earlier this year, CNN reported that U.S. and German intelligence authorities foiled a Russian plot to assassinate the CEO of arms manufacturer Rheinmetall, which has been manufacturing weapons that German authorities have sent to Ukraine.