The German minister: Sweden in a serious situation

Europe needs to prepare for the risk that Vladimir Putin’s Russia will one day attack a NATO country, according to German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius.

He understands the heightened tone in Sweden about the risk of war.

In an interview with the newspaper Der Tagesspiegel, Pistorius comments on the Swedish Minister of Civil Defense Carl-Oskar Bohlin’s (M) attention-grabbing statements that there “could be war in Sweden” and that the Swedes must mentally prepare for it.

– It is understandable from a Scandinavian perspective. Geographically, the Swedes are in an even more serious situation. But we too must learn to live with the danger again and prepare ourselves: militarily, in society at large and through the civil defense, says Boris Pistorius in the interview.

Germany follows all possible threat scenarios, both more and less probable scenarios, points out the German Minister of Defense. Like most of his European colleagues, he states that the security policy threat is greater than it has been in the last 30 years.

– We hear threats from the Kremlin almost every day, most recently against our friends in the Baltics. So we need to factor in the calculations that Vladimir Putin will one day attack a NATO country as well, says the 63-year-old social democrat.

When asked what period of time we are talking about, Boris Pistorius emphasizes that he does not see it as likely that Russia would go on the attack in the current situation.

– Our experts expect a period of five to eight years where this could become possible.