German defence chief Carsten Breuer has said he sees a growing danger in Russia’s military buildup.
“We see the Russian army advancing west,” Breuer, officially the Inspector General of the Bundeswehr, told local newspaper Sächsische Zeitung.
He said that within five to eight years, Moscow’s armed forces would have sufficient equipment and personnel to launch an attack on NATO territory.
As a basis for these assessments, he cited his own analyses, intelligence reports and statements from allied forces, as well as statements by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“The Russian army increases the number of tanks by 1,000 to 1,500 additional units each year. The five largest European NATO member states together have only half that number in their inventory,” Breuer said.
The Bundeswehr, as the German armed forces are called, has about 300 battle tanks. “If this capability is combined with the intention, which can certainly be deduced from Putin’s speeches, that should alarm us. My job is to consider such a worst-case scenario. For the Bundeswehr that means: We have to be prepared for this possibility within five years. Only in this way can we deter,” Breuer added.
However, he said the new threat is not yet fully recognised everywhere.
