Foreign Affairs

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(3,015 posts) Sun Feb 2, 2025, 01:26 PM Feb 2

German General Warns His Countrymen: "We are no longer at peace."

German Alexander Sollfrank, Commander of the Operational Command of the Bundeswehr

The commander of the German military's newly established Operational Command, Alexander Sollfrank, warned of increasing Russian attempts to disrupt life in Germany in an interview with dpa. There have been "intrusion attempts" into facilities of the Bundeswehr, as Germany's military is known, as well as drone sightings.

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"We are no longer at peace. We are observing hostile activities against the Bundeswehr in Germany, against infrastructure, including spying."

Last year US and German counterintelligence foiled a Russian assassination attempt on Armin Papperger, the CEO of an arms manufacturer sending weapons to Ukraine. The plot was one of a series of Russian plans to assassinate defense industry executives across Europe who were supporting Ukraine’s war effort.

Armin Papperger

NATO is maintaining a high alert level for Russian sabotage and espionage.

In the latest incident over the weekend, an undersea cable between Sweden and Latvia, which is used by the Latvian State Radio and Television Centre (LVRTC), was damaged, although the exact cause remains still unclear. The authorities in Stockholm are investigating possible serious sabotage and have detained a suspicious vessel.

Source: TeleGeography, “Submarine Cable Map”, 20 May 2022.

In a separate German interview with Bild, NATO Chief Mark Rutte has said he has ideas about any future peace negotiations between Kyiv and Moscow that are a "little secret," but will ensure Russian President Vladimir Putin will "never try again" to conquer Ukraine.

"We must ensure that (Putin) can never, ever again conquer even one square kilometer of Ukraine," he replied, adding the most important thing for NATO to do right now is to support Kyiv with weapons and training for its soldiers.

He went on to say that if Ukraine decides to enter peace talks, it will then have to bring Putin to the negotiating table.

"I can't describe to you exactly how these talks will go," he said, adding: "I already have ideas about what this composition could look like. But we don't want to make Putin any smarter than he already is. We're making it a little secret."

"The front is moving in the wrong direction. But at what price?," he said, adding: "The Russians are paying for it with 1,000 to 1,500 people a day who are dying or seriously wounded. And yet the Russians are not achieving their goals."

"Only the end is certain — Putin will never try again after this," Rutte concluded.

Demonstrating confidence and unity against Russia is welcome, especially in the light that a Vladimir Putin protege now occupies the White House. NATO is signaling they are stepping up to fill the imminent void the US will be creating. These interviews are for German public consumption as the only language the Kremlin understands is action or force.