German intelligence accuses Russia of escalating the "shadow war" and increasing the risks of armed conflict

The German Foreign Intelligence Service (BND) accused Russia (today, Monday, October 5) of escalating its “shadow war” against Germany, which increases the risk of an armed conflict.

The head of Germany's foreign intelligence service, Martin Jaeger, said during a hearing before the Parliament's Intelligence Committee that "Germany faces the risk of being drawn into a violent conflict with Russia," adding that "no country currently poses such a direct, comprehensive and tangible threat to Germany." Jaeger pointed out that the Russian intelligence services work "with high professionalism and without deterrence."

During his speech, Yeager referred to the attempted attack that targeted a Ukrainian transport plane at Leipzig Airport last August, which was suspected of being carried out by Russian agents.

Russia denied its relationship with the incident, and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said: German accusations against Russia are "the beginning of a real war."

Germany had accused Lorsia of waging a "multi-method" campaign that included espionage, sabotage, and other operations, something Moscow strongly denies.

However, Yeager pointed out that his agency does not currently see “any indication” of Russian plans to launch a major military attack on a NATO member state, as Russia is currently very busy managing the war in Ukraine, but he warned that “limited Russian military activities may be carried out, especially in the Baltic states.”

Germany is Russia's "main adversary".

The fact that Germany is the first supporter of Ukraine in the war that Russia has been waging against it for more than four and a half years, makes it, according to the government, the first target of hostile Russian operations ranging from media disinformation to an assassination attempt, through espionage activities.

On Sunday, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz made an unannounced visit to Kiev, during which he announced the provision of more military aid to Ukraine, pledging to continue his support for it.

In this regard, Yeager said that Germany "has become a major obstacle to Russia's expansion of its influence and dominance in Europe," which makes it "a target for Russian actions."

How is Germany preparing militarily?

Germany's preparations to confront the Russian threat have already begun, as Germany has invested record sums of money to rebuild its military forces to confront Russia. Germany is also seeking to carry out a comprehensive reform of its intelligence services that will expand its powers and allow German agents to carry out more offensive secret operations that go beyond collecting information and include storing and analyzing it automatically.

These devices will also be given, for the first time, the ability to effectively confront threats such as acts of sabotage or electronic attacks by launching counter-attacks.

Yeager stressed the importance of the role of the German intelligence services in confronting the threat from Russia. He said that the intelligence services play an essential role in this “shadow war,” and stressed the necessity of moving forward with these reforms. He added: “When we obtain these powers, we will use them, and our opponents will feel the impact of that.”

In turn, the head of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (the Internal Intelligence Service) (BfV), Sinan Selen, stressed that Russian operations go far beyond ordinary espionage acts to include “sabotage and assassination operations,” and said that “defense industries and military infrastructure are in the line of fire,” adding that Moscow “has now accepted the possibility of civilian casualties” in its violent campaign against Germany.