Name: German general warns of Russia's 'urgent' threat to West in full interview | BBC News
Uploaded: 2026-03-28T16:36:41.000Z
Duration: 15 min 9 s
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How urgent is the security situation now that faces Germany and Europe generally?

Well, I've—I joined the military in, um, 1984, and, um, since then I think, um, I've never experienced, um, a situation which is that dangerous, that urgent, um, like it is today.

Um, so what we are seeing, what we are facing, um, is a threat from Russia, and

we—we can clearly see, um, that Russia is building up their military, um, to a strength which is, um, nearly doubling, um, in size from what they had, um, before the, um, war against Ukraine.

Um, what we see is, um, that they're building up new structures, um, um, on the Russian side, and

all those structures, um, directing west.

So for me it's clear that there's a—a clear threat, and

we have to have a perception that we all see this threat.

And do you have, uh, intelligence, evidence that Russia is planning to attack NATO somewhere, and

Well, we are—we are talking to our analysts, um, but not only in Germany, but

also, um, on an international, um, um, on the—in cooperation with our international partners.

And what we see is, um, the culmination point in there, um, and

this culmination point we would—we would say it's, um, in 2029.

Is this the time where Russia is doing an attack?

I can't tell, I can't—I can't predict, but

in 2029 there's a possibility for Russia, um, um, to conduct a major war against, um, NATO, a NATO country.

And I as a military have to say, okay, we have to be prepared—we have to be prepared for this.

Um, we have to do a worst-case scenario, um, we have to think in worst-case scenario, and

And how dependent are the European allies on support from the United States, and is that support dependable?

Well, I—I think it's not, um, only the, um, the current administration, the current government, um, who've, um, have said that, um, Europe has to get, um, more and more into a responsibility of taking over their own, um, security.

Um, I think it was, um, I heard it the first time in 2011 or 2012.

Um, so what we—what we have to do now is, in Europe, in Germany, and

we are doing this, we have to take over, we have to understand that we have to take over more responsibility, and

And here's a little bit the European dilemma.

building up those capabilities which are urgently needed, building up those compu—uh, capabilities takes a little bit of time.

Um, and we are talking about, well, probably three, four, five years, um, definitely, um, and

bringing this together, um, I think, um, I would call it this di-dilemma, um, because you can't solve it, um, right away.

What are the capabilities that currently only the United States has, that the European powers need to acquire in the next three to four years?

Well, we in Germany, we set a—a clear prioritized, um, list.

What we need is, um, um, drones, um, what—what we need is deep precision strike, um, and

also space capability—space capabilities have to come into this.

So these are the most urgent, um, um, um, needs, um, in—in here, but

like I said, we have put it on a prioritized list, and

we are working with this, um, and we—we—we will—we are good on our way to do so.

Are you ready to be the first general to lead a German army to war in Europe for the first time since 1945?

Well, bear with me, um, I think the connotation, um, of, um, leading to war is wrong in—in here.

So what—what I'm ready to and what I'm—I'm doing at the moment is, um, to prepare Germany, um, of being able to defend, um, ourselves, um, and

building up those defense, um, capabilities.

this, um, will deter the threat we are facing from—from the Russian side.

Just to be clear, who is the enemy that you face?

Uh, for me it's much more about the threat, um, and

the threat is—is very clear, the threat is coming—coming from Russia.

Um, we—we—we have to see this, we have to face this, and

we have to put our efforts, uh, against this threat.

Um, when you're talking about enemies, this is for me a frontline where you're standing, um, um, in front of each other, looking others in—in the—in the face, um, this is about enemy, we are definitely not there.

Do you think the political leadership of Germany and of the other European allies are themselves sufficiently equal to the urgency?

Well, what I've seen in my term as a Chief of Defence in Germany, um, I've seen a change also in the public, um, in—in Germany, also in society, and

Um, so they—this—this urgency, um, is—is really there.

So the—the perception of 2029 is—is understood, that we have to be kriegstüchtig, like we will call it in Germany, so able and ready to wage a war, um, that we have to be ready by 2029.

This is—this is really—this has changed, um, the—the—the attitude.

Um, so therefore I would, um, say a clear yes, um, the urgency is understood, um, and

So when you joined the army 42 years ago in 1984, there were still tens of thousands of Allied troops taking care of Germany's defence for it, and

there was a deeply ingrained suspicion of militarism in Germany because of the country's very dark past.

Do you think finally in these last few years Germany has moved out of that?

Well, we—we—we understood, um, or we understand that there's, um, a—a lot of responsibility we—we have to take, but

this responsibility is also to our past, to our history.

So we can't step out of our history, definitely not, um, so we are—we and—and at the same time we have to understand, um, that we have to take over more responsibility in and for Europe, but

always together with our European, um, allies.

So this understanding is—is clearly there and has shifted society over the last years.

Let me ask you about events over the last few weeks: Iran, Israel, the United States.

We've seen alignment between Russia and Iran, two wars eliding.

Do you think what's happening there makes the security situation in Germany and in Europe even more precarious?

Hmm, I'm—I'm—I'm absolutely sure that we can't think in boxes anymore.

So it's not a—the European theatre and the—the Near Middle East, um, and—and then probably, um, um, China or the—the—the, um, Indo-Pacific area.

All those theatres are intertwined, are interlinked, um, and

what happens in one theatre, um, has impact on the other theatre as well.

Um, this, um, understanding, um, has shaped, um, um, I—I think very much, um, also our military strategy, um, which is coming out, um, in the—in the next couple of weeks.

Chancellor Merz, uh, said that it's clear now that the European allies need to acquire within NATO operational autonomy of the United States, so that should the need arise, Europe would be able to act militarily without the United States.

Well, it's, um, for—for me it's, um, much more that we, um, have to see the threat, um, in—in Europe and that—that we have to—to counter this—this threat.

So there has to be a—a clear perception on this.

Um, in—in strengthening, um, Europe, um, and

also the—the defence, um, industry in—in Europe, in, um, building up, um, forces, um, this comes closer, um, together, meeting this—this threat over there.

therefore there's also a—a strengthening or a—a clear way of strengthening, um, the European pillar in—in NATO.

So bringing this together, um, I think once again, um, Europe has understood what we—what we have to do, and

Can you give us an overview of what's happening, what's changing in the German and the broader European defence industry?

It's—it's definitely, um, meeting—meeting the needs.

with, um, first the—the extra budget, um, which the—the parliament, um, the government provided in—in Germany, um, um, after, um, the, um, beginning of the war in Ukraine, um, with this 100 billion euro of—of extra budget, this was a—a starting point for—for this, but

it was also clear for the defence industry that this extra budget will end in 2027.

then there was the—the next step, um, in—in 2025 when the government, um, decided and the parliament, um, decided, um, to have this no ceiling, um, um, budget, um, for all security-related, um, um, and

Um, so changing the constitution in that way, um, and