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Russia is already in state of hybrid war with West - Merz

German Chancellor Merz

Europe, including Germany, is facing Russia's aggressive actions in new forms every day, so Moscow is actually already at war with the West - not a conventional war, but a hybrid one.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said this following the NATO summit in The Hague on June 25, Censor.NET reports citing Ukrinform.

According to him, Europe is facing attacks on data networks, damage and destruction of submarine cables in the Baltic Sea, disinformation, fake news generated by artificial intelligence, etc.

In his opinion, such actions are already part of a hybrid war.

The chancellor also emphasized that such methods have a long history in Russian terrorist groups, intelligence services, and groups financed and supported by Russia.

In response to these threats, according to Merz, the Bundeswehr has created a fourth type of armed forces - the Cyber Defense Service.

Merz suggested that all partner states in the European Union and NATO should cooperate more closely in the field of intelligence, intelligence services and share their findings with each other, as the new situation and new challenges require different forms and scale of cooperation between the allies.

As for the risk of a direct Russian attack on NATO countries, Merz said: "There are different assessments as to whether Russia would dare to test the Alliance's defense capabilities."

According to him, this applies "not only to Hungary, but also to at least one other country in the European Union," but he did not specify which country.

The politician also reiterated that he wants to make the Bundeswehr "the strongest conventional army in the EU" and declared Germany's readiness to take a leading role in the European part of NATO.

"To do this, we will increase defense spending and strengthen our defense industry," Merz added.