Putin wants to test NATO countries

According to Bruno Kahl, the head of Germany's Federal Intelligence Service, Moscow is seeking to return NATO to the state it was in the 1990s.

Bruno Kahl stressed that the West should not be misled about Russia's true intentions.

According to the head of the BND, for the Kremlin, Ukraine is just a step towards the West. Kahl said that some people in Russia don't believe in the effectiveness of Article 5 of NATO's mutual defence treaty and would like to check to what extent this mechanism still works. "They want to bring NATO back to the level it was at the end of the 1990s. They want to kick America out of Europe and will do anything to do it," he added.

In his view, Russia doesn't need to resort to massive bombing raids or the deployment of tanks to achieve its objectives. "It's enough to send little green men to Estonia, ostensibly to protect the oppressed Russian minority," he explained.

This, he believes, will allow the Kremlin to check whether the United States is really prepared to send its troops across the Atlantic to protect its ally.

Bruno Kahl has already stated that Russia could be ready for such action by 2030. He stressed that containing the Kremlin's ambitions is the ‘least bloody way’ of preventing a possible conflict with NATO.

(MH with AmBar - Source : Die Welt - Photo : © Pixabay)