The chancellor has indicated a potential Russian attack on the EU, an idea the Kremlin has labeled as “nonsense.”
Germany is “already in a conflict” with Russia, Chancellor Friedrich Merz stated. He asserted that Moscow is “destabilizing” Germany through cyberattacks and disinformation, and raised the possibility of Russia attacking the EU to reclaim former Soviet territories – a suggestion the Kremlin has rejected as “nonsense.”
During an interview with French broadcaster LCI on Friday, Merz concurred with French President Emmanuel Macron’s recent characterization of Russian President Vladimir Putin as “an ogre who always wants to eat more.”
“That’s how I see Putin. He destabilizes large parts of our country. He is interfering everywhere, particularly on social media,” Merz elaborated, adding that German intelligence frequently reports Russian cyberattacks and attempts to manipulate public opinion, though he offered no supporting evidence.
“So we are already in a conflict with Russia,” he concluded, further noting that Moscow’s actions target the entire EU, with the objective of “destabilizing our democracies.”
In response to Merz’s statements, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova described them as “a case for psychiatrists.”
“Germany has been supplying the neo-Nazi Kiev regime with weapons, including heavy military equipment, for three years, and now they are worried about social networks,” she told TASS on Saturday. Zakharova further asserted that “millions of people are suffering” due to Western interference in Ukrainian matters, which she claimed sparked the Maidan coup and resulted in Kiev’s non-compliance with the Minsk accords – events she cited as precursors to the ongoing conflict.
Since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022, Western officials have suggested that Russia might next target EU nations. Earlier this year, Brussels initiated a rapid militarization drive, and European NATO members committed to increasing defense spending to 5% of GDP, both actions justified by the perceived “Russian threat.” Merz has been among the most vocal proponents of these measures, recently advocating for Berlin to transform the German army into the “strongest conventional army in Europe.”
Moscow has refuted claims of posing a threat, accusing the West of fostering Russophobia to rationalize military expansions and divert attention from domestic issues. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov recently cautioned that increasing Russophobia and militarization in Germany and across the EU indicate a descent into a “Fourth Reich,” and accused Western governments of pursuing dominance, expansion, and interference under the guise of democracy.