Latest news with #FederalIntelligenceService
Yahoo
28-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Russia prepares for war with NATO
Germany's Federal Intelligence Service (BND) and the country's armed forces estimate that Russia views the West as a systemic enemy, is building up its military power and preparing for a large-scale confrontation with NATO. Source: European Pravda with reference to Bild Details: It has been argued that Putin's empire is ready to use military force to realise its imperialist goals. The assessment, which is also reported by the Süddeutsche Zeitung, WDR and NDR, suggests that Putin will not be satisfied with Ukraine alone. By the end of the decade, Russia is likely to have created all the necessary conditions to be able to wage a "large-scale conventional war". The Lithuanian Intelligence Service (VSD) believes that Russia is not yet in a position to wage a large-scale conventional war against NATO in the medium term. However, limited military action against one or more NATO countries is possible. Putin is allegedly planning to test how seriously NATO countries actually take the obligation to provide assistance under Article 5 of the NATO Treaty in case of emergency. The BND report indicates that while three-quarters of Russian soldiers and equipment from the Baltic border regions are currently in Ukraine, the air force and navy are on full alert. If the war in Ukraine ends, Russian units will be redeployed back to the region. Despite heavy losses and Western sanctions, Putin continues to arm himself. The Bundeswehr and the BND report that Russia's military economy produces more than it needs for the war in Ukraine. By 2026, the size of the Russian Armed Forces should be increased to 1.5 million soldiers. According to the plans for 2022, the number of personnel, weapons and military equipment of the Russian Federation on the border with NATO should be increased by 30-50%. It is noted that the Kremlin is increasing military spending at a dizzying pace. By 2025, they will amount to about €120 billion, which corresponds to more than 6% of GDP. Thus, Russia has almost quadrupled its military budget compared to 2021. Background: NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte recently promised a devastating response to Putin for an attack on Poland or any other NATO country. Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon!
Gulf Insider
17-03-2025
- Health
- Gulf Insider
"Beyond Reasonable Doubt": Former MI6 Head Told Boris Johnson COVID-19 "Was Engineered In The WIV"
Last week we noted reporting by journalist Alex Berensen, who cited two large German newspapers in revealing that Germany's Federal Intelligence Service (BND) has long had evidence that the Covid-19 virus originally came from a US-funded lab in Wuhan, China. According to these reports, at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic in Europe in 2020, the German government commissioned a secret intelligence operation under the codename of Saaremaa to investigate the origins of the Covid-19 virus, also known as SARS-CoV-2. When they concluded that a lab leak was most likely, the German Chancellery ordered that the results were to be kept hidden from the public. Now, the Daily Mail reports that 'a former spy chief submitted a secret dossier to No 10 early in the pandemic reporting that the virus had originated with a leak from a Wuhan facility.' Except that Patrick Vallance, the UK's equivalent of Anthony Fauci, quashed it. A classified dossier compiled by Sir Richard Dearlove, the former head of MI6, was passed to then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson at the start of the outbreak in March 2020 which stated: 'It is now beyond reasonable doubt that Covid-19 was engineered in the Wuhan Institute of Virology'. The file, marked 'Secret – Recipient's Eyes Only' argued that Beijing was pushing a fake narrative that the virus had originated in an animal market. The dossier, compiled by a group of eminent academics and intelligence experts and seen by The Mail on Sunday, said China even retrospectively manipulated viral samples to give credence to the deception. But the argument is said to have been dismissed by Patrick Vallance, who was a familiar face during the pandemic as he flanked Mr Johnson at No 10 news conferences. In a new statement from Dearlove, he writes that 'Boris himself was persuaded by its argument. But the weight of the Government's scientific establishment, already signed up to the Chinese narrative, prevailed.' Last night, a source close to Mr Johnson pointed the finger at Lord Vallance for rubbishing the lab-leak theory in order to appease the Chinese government. The source said: 'Boris repeatedly asked the [intelligence] agencies to do more work on the origins of Covid. It struck him as simply too much of a coincidence that a mutant Covid virus appeared in a city that just happened to possess one of the only labs in the world that engineered mutant Covid viruses. Click here to read more…
Yahoo
08-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
German intelligence chief believes Russia might test effectiveness of NATO's Article 5
Bruno Kahl, President of the Federal Intelligence Service (BND), suggests that Russia is considering testing NATO's collective security guarantees and that this risk will increase if the fighting in Ukraine stops in the near future. Source: Bruno Kahl in an interview with Deutsche Welle, as European Pravda reported with the reference to dpa, a German news agency Details: Bruno Kahl believes Russia will likely want to test the unity of Western countries and the effectiveness of Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty, which provides that an attack on one of the NATO member states is considered an attack on all of them. Quote from Bruno Kahl: "We very much hope this is not true and that we will not be put in the difficult position of it being tested. However, we must assume that Russia wants to test us, to put the unity of the West to the test." Details: The BND president says that the timing and probability of such a "test" are directly related to how events in the Russo-Ukrainian war will continue to develop. Kahl noted that if the war ends before 2029-2030, Russia will be able to become a threat to Europe more quickly. "It is also possible that a concrete threat or blackmail attempt from Russia against Europeans could occur earlier than previously calculated. An early end to the war in Ukraine would enable the Russians to direct their energy where they actually want it, namely against Europe," said Bruno Kahl. The head of intelligence says Russia hopes that the future world order will be similar to that of the 1990s, that the Russian "sphere of influence" will expand further west, and that, in the most desirable scenario, the United States will withdraw its troops from Europe. Background: On 4 March, the German parties CDU/CSU and SPD, which are negotiating the formation of a government led by Friedrich Merz, agreed on a multi-billion dollar package of defence and infrastructure financing on credit. All defence expenditures exceeding 1% of GDP will be exempt from debt restrictions. German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius announced a "historic day" for the Bundeswehr and Germany. Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon!
