Ayhan Şimşek
12 October 2026•Update: 12 October 2026
Germany’s interior minister warned Monday that the country is the target of a shadow war whose aims go far beyond those of the Cold War.
“It has the clear aim of destabilizing us. The goal is not to defeat us militarily, but to subdue us politically,” Alexander Dobrindt said in a speech at a security conference in Berlin.
Dobrindt accused Moscow of daily hybrid attacks and said Germany is a target because it is a strong economic nation and a central actor in European defense and support for Ukraine.
“If one wants to destabilize the West, then one aims at Germany. If one wants to destabilize Europe, then one aims at Germany, because we are the guarantor of stability in the West and in Europe,” he said.
Sinan Selen, head of Germany’s domestic intelligence agency, the BfV, said the threat landscape had undergone a fundamental shift, with destabilization attempts intensifying and expanding.
“Russia is the primary driving force behind this. Its aggressive and revisionist conduct targets the European security order,” he said. “Russia deliberately employs destabilization tactics to weaken, unsettle, and divide us. This is not a passing phase, but a long-term hybrid attack.”
He stressed that Germany could not leave its own protection to third parties and must possess robust capabilities while cooperating with international partners on an equal footing so that each strengthens the other and a collective European capacity for action is built.
