NATO at risk of Russia attack in next four years, warns German defence chief
1 June 2025, 23:59
Germany's chief of defence has warned NATO members must prepare for a possible attack from Russia within the next four years.
Listen to this article
Loading audio...
NATO members are vulnerable to attack from the 'hundreds of tanks' being produced by Russia a year, according to General Carsten Breuer, Germany's chief of defence.
The attack could come as soon as 2029, he warned, adding that he has never seen such a "serious threat" from Russia in his 40 years of service.
According to the general, currently Russia is reportedly building up its forces to an "enormous extent", producing approximately 1,500 main battle tanks every year.
"Not every single tank is going to [the war in] Ukraine, but it's also going in stocks and into new military structures always facing the West," he said.
Read more: Britain unveils 12 new attack submarines as UK forces arm for war
Read more:
Russia also reportedly produced four million rounds of 152mm artillery munitions in 2024, which have also not been fully set aside for the war.
"There's an intent and there's a buildup of the stocks" for a possible future attack on NATO's Baltic state members, General Breuer claimed.
"This is what the analysts are assessing - in 2029. So, we have to be ready by 2029. If you ask me now, is this a guarantee that's not earlier than 2029? I would say no, it's not. So we must be able to fight tonight."
The German chief of defence commented while attending the Shangri-la Dialogue, a defence summit in Singapore organised by the think tank International Institute of Strategic Studies.
An attack on NATO has been feared for its ripple effect too, with some concerned it could trigger a larger war between Russia and the US, which holds a top leadership position.
Under Article 5 of the NATO agreement, any attack on a member state would mean that other members must come to its defence.
According to General Breuer, the Suwalki Gap - an area around the border between Lithuania and Poland, and centres on the shortest path between Belarus and the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad Oblast - is one of the most vulnerable areas.
General Breuer argued that NATO members should be building up their militaries again: "What we have to do now is really to lean in and to tell everybody [to] ramp up. Get more into it because we need it. We need it to be able to defend ourselves and therefore also to build up deterrence."
![Sir Keir Starmer has called on Vladimir Putin to "stop dragging his heels and get to the [negotiating] table", as Trump calls the Russian president "misguided."](https://images.lbc.co.uk/images/734580?width=320&crop=16_9&format=webp&signature=hCtUT-QBb1QuxMxVTF6Ch2nl6Ow=)
