Germany risks being drawn into violent conflict with Russia, spy chief warns

Germany's foreign intelligence chief warned on Monday that the country risks being drawn into a violent conflict with Russia, as Moscow wages what he called a "shadow war" against Berlin. "Germany is in danger of being drawn into a violent conflict with Russia," Martin Jäger, president of the Federal Intelligence Service (BND), told MPs at the Bundestag's annual public hearing on the intelligence agencies.

Jäger said no other country currently poses as direct, comprehensive and concrete a threat to Germany, calling it a main obstacle to Russian "hegemonic power projection" in Europe because of its support for Ukraine and the Baltic states. He pointed to a suspected attempt in August to attack a Ukrainian cargo plane with an explosive-laden drone at Leipzig/Halle airport as one example.

"Russia is waging a shadow war against us," Jäger said, adding that this undeclared conflict could not be understood using conventional military or legal categories. He said Russian intelligence services were acting with a high degree of professionalism and ruthlessness and that the threat of attacks on targets in Germany remained real and immediate.

The BND chief said his service currently has no evidence that Russia is preparing a large-scale attack on NATO territory, but warned Moscow could carry out smaller, low-intensity military operations, particularly in the Baltic states, similar to the unmarked "little green men" troops that spearheaded Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea. He said Germany must also prepare for intimidation attempts, including threats of nuclear attack, and should not show weakness.

Sinan Selen, president of Germany's domestic intelligence agency, the BfV, told the same hearing that Russia had shown a readiness for sabotage and killings, pointing to disinformation campaigns and attack attempts such as the Leipzig/Halle incident. He said German services had already scored some successes against the threats but needed to match the capabilities of European partner agencies as the situation worsens.

Jäger said Russia's war in Ukraine is entering a more dangerous phase, with more brutal attacks expected this winter as President Vladimir Putin faces growing domestic pressure to show military progress. Putin has passed the point where he could end the war without endangering his own hold on power, Jäger said, and must show a success in Ukraine that justifies the sacrifices made so far.

The hearing was the annual public session of the Bundestag's Parliamentary Control Panel, which normally questions the heads of the BND, the BfV and the military counterintelligence agency MAD behind closed doors. Germany's government has a draft law before parliament that would expand the BND and BfV's powers to carry out operations such as stopping cyberattacks or sabotaging foreign arms projects, not just gathering intelligence.