After the federal election, I would be happy to continue in my office as Federal Minister of Defence, said SPD’s Boris Pistorius to the Funke Media Group (Sunday editions). It is part of a minister’s job not to know the future after elections. Pistorius referred to the successes in his office. “We have almost completely bound the 100 billion euros from the special fund contractually” he said. In this year alone, 97 major projects worth 58 billion euros have been put on the way. “Many would not have thought that would happen so quickly.”
The procurement process has also been reorganized and “massively accelerated” according to the Defense Minister. “We buy as quickly as never before” he said. “It is crucial for the future that we invest the money quickly, so that we have the weapon systems in the troops as quickly and to save costs.”
Pistorius warned the public about Russia’s hybrid warfare against Germany. “Putin knows us well, he knows how to prick us with needles” he said to the Funke Media Group. Germany is particularly in Putin’s focus. “If we ignore the threat because it bothers us, it will not get smaller, but bigger.”
The minister named attacks on infrastructure and energy supply, as well as activities like sabotage in the North and Baltic Seas and rule violations in the airspace as examples. “In addition, there are campaigns in social media, the influence of election campaigns and the financing of voices, such as AfD and BSW, that claim we are not concerned about our own protection, but we are heading for war with Russia” said Pistorius. “This all belongs to Putin’s strategy to unsettle and divide our society.”
With a military attack by Russia on NATO, it is not currently to be expected. “But we cannot rule out that Russia could attack NATO territory in a few years” said the SPD politician. Russia will produce more weapons and ammunition in a few months than all the EU countries together in a year. “By 2029 or 2030, Putin could be so well-equipped that Russia would be able to attack NATO.”
The minister warned: “We must also reckon with the possibility that Putin in the next few years could test the cohesion of the alliance by advancing at one or the other point of the alliance’s territory.”
As a lesson from the threat situation, Pistorius also demanded: “We must learn to protect our state secrets again.” It should, for example, be less detailed about the weapons Germany delivers to Ukraine, he added with a glance at the public debate about the Taurus cruise missile. “Not for political, but for military reasons. Putin would not even think of that in his dreams.