Dr. Bruno Kahl calls for European military buildup amid unreliable U.S. defense commitments.

The head of Germany’s foreign intelligence service BND (BundesNachrichtenDienstes) has issued a stark warning about Russia’s growing aggression and strategic ambitions, suggesting that the Kremlin is tempted to challenge NATO’s collective defense commitments.

In an exclusive interview for Acast, Bruno Kahl said that Moscow is increasingly convinced that Article 5 of the NATO treaty — the clause that treats an attack on one member as an attack on all — may not be credible.

“There are people in Moscow who no longer believe that Article 5 of NATO works. And they would like to test it,” Kahl stated.

According to him, President Vladimir Putin is seeking to expand Russian influence westward and to roll NATO back to its posture of the late 1990s.

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"The Kremlin will use any means necessary to achieve this goal," Kahl noted, adding that the BND possesses intelligence evidence to support these assessments.

"Western deterrence must be so credible that Moscow won't even consider putting it to the test."

Dr. Kahl emphasized that the Russian leadership perceives democratic values and the rule of law as existential threats. As more countries along Russia’s border choose to align with the West, the Kremlin sees its grip on power under threat — and acts accordingly.

“They want to push America out of Europe,” he warned.

One potential tactic, he said, could involve the deployment of so-called "little green men" — unmarked soldiers or operatives — under the pretext of defending Russian-speaking minorities in Baltic countries like Estonia, Latvia, or Lithuania.

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“The question they are calculating in Moscow is: Would the American president really send U.S. troops to die for Tallinn, Riga, or Vilnius?”

Kahl expressed confidence in the current transatlantic unity, in spite of the fact that U.S. President Donald Trump repeatedly expressed doubts over the meaning of NATO and aligned with Putin during public meetings.

U.S. Defense Secretary Peter Hegseth refused this week to answer questions during a Congress hearing whether the Trump administration will send troops to defend the European allies, if Russia attacks.

A month ago, the former commander of Ukraine's armed forces, Valery Zaluzhny openly ridiculed NATO's Article 5, casting doubts that it will be ever enforced in a conflict with Russia. 

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