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Russia Could Test NATO’s Defense With “Little Green Men” Tactics, German Intelligence Chief Warns
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Russia intends to test NATO’s resolve by expanding its confrontation with the West beyond Ukraine, Bruno Kahl, head of Germany’s Federal Intelligence Service (BND), has warned.
This was reported by Reuters on June 10, citing Kahl’s interview with Table Media.
The agency chief stated that BND possesses clear intelligence indicating that Russian officials no longer see NATO’s collective defense commitments as practically enforceable.
“We are quite certain, and we have intelligence showing it, that Ukraine is only a step on the journey westward,” Kahl said.
“That doesn’t mean we expect tank armies to roll westwards,” he added. “But we see that NATO's collective defense promise is to be tested.”
Without disclosing the sources of intelligence, Kahl noted that Russian officials are anticipating confrontations that fall short of full-scale war but are designed to test whether the United States would truly act on its mutual defense commitments under Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty.
“They don’t need to dispatch armies of tanks for that,” he said. “It’s enough to send little green men to Estonia to protect supposedly oppressed Russian minorities.”
Kahl also stated that his conversations with American counterparts have convinced him that they take the Russian threat seriously.
“They take it as seriously as us, thank God,” he said.
On June 6, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz stated he believes that some American lawmakers do not fully grasp the scale of Russia’s rearmament campaign.
