Germany has become a “battleground” in Vladimir Putin’s hybrid war on Nato due to decades of lax security and pro-Russian sympathisers in the east, a senior intelligence chief has warned.
In an interview with The Telegraph, Stephan Kramer, the head of domestic intelligence in Germany’s eastern Thuringia state, said Moscow viewed Berlin as a “wonderful” sabotage target, as he urged extra vigilance.
“Germany… as it is located in the middle of Europe, is a wonderful target for all types of logistical sabotage. Almost any supply for Ukraine has to go through Germany,” Mr Kramer said.
“Combined with the political situation – a good portion of Germans in the east are pro-Russia, doubting [their[ own government and public structures – and the unsecured critical infrastructure, this is the classical battleground for a successful hybrid warfare,” he added.
Since the invasion of Ukraine, Russia has been waging what Nato officials call a “hybrid warfare” campaign against Kyiv’s allies.
The strategy relies on a mixture of sabotage operations targeting key infrastructure, election interference, cyber-attacks and other covert means of undermining Western countries.
‘Putin feeds the extreme Left and Right’
Mr Kramer also warned that Russia was “feeding into feelings of chaos and the delegitimisation of public structures on all channels” in Germany.
Russian sympathies in eastern Germany are largely due to its former status as a satellite Soviet state, the GDR, during the Cold War.
All Nato states are concerned about hybrid warfare but the situation is particularly tense in Germany, where a recent, mysterious fire at an arms factory in Berlin is now suspected of being an act of Russian sabotage.
Mr Kramer noted that other Nato allies have spent years securing critical infrastructure whereas Germany only started that discussion “some months ago”.
Germany was also being destabilised by Russian and Chinese bids to undermine democracy and to encourage distrust towards German leaders, he said. “Putin feeds the extreme left and right no matter what, so that in the end our democracy is ruined,” he warned.
He also suggested that the “stressful” pandemic has left the German public in some areas resentful towards the state. And he warned that the “long preserved, false, feeling of living in general peace” may have made Germany too complacent about the threat from Russia.