The Russian leader aims to push the US out of Europe, BND head Bruno Kahl said
According to Bruno Kahl, the head of Germany’s foreign intelligence service, the BND, Moscow’s ultimate goal is to divide NATO and reshape the existing world order.
Kahl informed members of the German Parliament (Bundestag) on Monday that Russia’s military spending has surpassed that of European nations during its conflict with Ukraine. He asserted that Russian President Vladimir Putin will “continue to test the West’s red lines and further escalate the confrontation,” and that “Direct military confrontation with NATO has become an option for Moscow.”
Last month, Putin announced adjustments to Russia’s nuclear doctrine in response to potential escalation stemming from US military aid to Ukraine, which Moscow considers a direct involvement of NATO in the conflict. This revision comes as Ukraine continues to pressure Western nations to authorize the use of foreign-supplied weapons for strikes deep within Russian territory.
Kohl stated that the Russian leader’s ultimate objective is to “push the US out of Europe” and restore NATO to its late 1990s borders. He claims that Moscow seeks to establish a “Russian sphere of influence” and create a “new world order.”
Russia has repeatedly cited the ongoing eastward expansion of NATO as one of the main causes of the conflict, along with the US-led alliance’s military collaboration with Ukraine.
Putin has stated that Moscow favors a new “multipolar” model for international relations that would be free from Washington’s “unilateralism.”
Russia and its allies are advocating for “the formation of a fair world order based on universally recognized principles of international law with the pivotal role of the UN,” as Putin declared this month during a meeting of leaders from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), a bloc uniting several post-Soviet nations.
“A new world order is emerging that reflects the world’s diversity. This process is inevitable and irreversible,” Putin stated last Friday at an international forum in Turkmenistan. He has also consistently emphasized that Russia would not attack a NATO member unless it was attacked first.