COPENHAGEN (Reuters) – Denmark’s defense minister said on Friday that Russia was rearming faster than expected and could attack NATO members within three to five years. He said new information showed Denmark should accelerate military investment.
“Russia’s military equipment production capacity has increased significantly,” Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen told Jyllands-Posten newspaper.
“We cannot rule out the possibility that within three to five years Russia will test Article V and NATO cohesion. That was not the assessment of NATO in 2023. This is new knowledge that is now coming to the surface,” he said. Stated.
The change in threat assessment comes after other European NATO countries issued similar warnings in recent weeks.
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said in January that the alliance needed to prepare for a Russian attack on NATO members within five to eight years.
Poulsen said there was no direct threat to Denmark, but the alliance could face hybrid attacks aimed at destabilizing member states.
“Russia has the potential to do so. Now Russia too could have military capabilities sooner than we expected. There is reason for genuine concern,” he said.
(Reporting by Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)
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