Russian acts of sabotage could lead to NATO invoking Article 5, Germany’s intelligence chief says

BERLIN (Reuters) -Russian acts of sabotage against Western targets may ultimately prompt NATO to invoke the alliance’s Article 5 mutual defense clause, the head of Germany’s foreign intelligence service said on Wednesday.

Speaking at the think tank DGAP in Berlin, Bruno Kahl, head of the Bundesnachrichtendienst, said he expected Moscow to further step up its hybrid warfare.

“Russia’s extensive use of hybrid measures increases the risk that NATO will eventually consider invoking the Article 5 mutual defense clause,” he noted.

“At the same time, the increasing increase in Russia’s military potential means that a direct military confrontation with NATO is becoming a possible option for the Kremlin.”

Under Article 5, the other members of the alliance are obliged to help respond if a NATO member is attacked.

NATO and Western intelligence agencies have warned that Russia is behind a growing number of hostile activities in the Euro-Atlantic area, ranging from repeated cyber attacks to Moscow-related arson – all of which Russia denies.

Kahl said the Russian military would likely be able to attack NATO by the end of this decade, adding that Moscow’s war against Ukraine meant the country had proven forces under its command that could counter the threat posed by increased its conventional forces while also mastering modern techniques. drone warfare.

In his experts’ assessment, senior Russian Defense Ministry officials doubt whether NATO’s Article 5, including US protection measures for Europe, would actually be invoked in the event of an emergency, the intelligence chief said.

“We have no indication yet that Russia plans to go to war, but if such sentiments prevail in the government in Moscow, the risk of a military confrontation will increase in the coming years.”

Should Russia attack one or more NATO allies, it would not do so to conquer vast swathes of land, Kahl said, but rather to test the red lines set by the West with the aim of Western unity and NATO as defensive alliance.

“According to the Russian view, this goal would be achieved if Article 5 remained ineffective in the event of a Russian attack,” he said.

“To achieve this goal you don’t need to send tank armies west; it is enough to send little green men to the Baltic states to protect supposedly endangered Russian minorities or adjust the borders on Spitsbergen.”

(Reporting by Sabine SieboldEditing by Riham Alkousaa and Alistair Bell)