Russia is obsessed with Germany and is seeking to undermine its unity through disinformation, influence operations and sabotage, the heads of German intelligence agencies have claimed, asking lawmakers for more power and funding.
The directors of the Federal Intelligence Service (BND), Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), and the Military Counterintelligence Service (MAD) gave their semiannual testimonies to the Bundestag’s control committee on Monday.
BND head Bruno Kahl claimed that Moscow sees Berlin as an enemy because of Germany’s support for Ukraine, and that Russia has already begun to “initiate direct kinetic measures against the West.”
“The Russian armed forces will probably be able to carry out an attack on NATO in terms of personnel and material by the end of this decade at the latest,” Kahl told the committee.
Thomas Haldenwang, who heads the internal security service BfV, claimed that Russia seeks to divide German society using existing social issues.
“A major problem is that a great number of people in our country, in particular the youth, no longer consume legacy media,” Haldenwang told lawmakers at one point.
“We need to establish the one true worldview,” he said at another point during the session, noting that in the worldview of the BfV, Russia “is our enemy,” a view the service has held for many years.
Dirk Wiese, a Social-Democrat lawmaker on the committee, waxed about the dangers of Russian influence delivered by “disinformation platforms RT and Sputnik.”
Haldenwang brought up the so-called Doppelganger project, which the US and the EU have accused Russia of masterminding. It allegedly involves creating fake versions of “reputable” outlets that are then used to deliver “Russian disinformation and propaganda,” he said.
He echoed another EU talking point about the Czech-based outlet Voice of Europe being a Russian disinformation operation. Its goal, he claimed, was to “to win over sympathetic European politicians in exchange for money so that these politicians would pursue Russian policies in the European Parliament or elsewhere.”
German intelligence was particularly concerned that some of the €300 million that Russia supposedly allocated for interference in elections and democracies around the West – according to US intelligence assessments, anyway – might be used against Berlin, according to Haldenwang. However, after “intense contacts” with American colleagues, the BfV was informed that “no funds” from this alleged endeavor were allocated to Germany.
Claims of Russian propaganda and subterfuge presenting a major threat were also invoked by the head of the British Security Service (MI5), Ken McCallum, in a speech seeking more power and government funding last week.
Moscow has categorically denied any interference in foreign elections or other internal affairs, alleging instead that the US and its allies have been working with Kiev on targeting Russian territory, civilian population and even nuclear facilities.