Media: Germany prepares special forces for possible war with Russia

Germany is preparing the special operations forces within the Bundeswehr for a possible military conflict with Russia.

This was reported by the newspaper Bild, citing brigade commander Andreas Kühne.

"We are focused on a specific adversary — Russia," he told the publication. According to Kühne, the special forces troops are being prepared to conduct prolonged operations. The training drills cover countering tanks, artillery, drones and electronic warfare assets, as well as operating in extreme cold.

It is noted that the unit numbers about 1,500 people. However, only a third of them are special forces soldiers, the rest are administrative personnel. According to Kühne, the staffing level stands at 70-80%.

The newspaper recalled that this unit had previously been involved in several scandals. Among them were incidents involving right-wing extremists, Nazi salutes, as well as the disappearance of ammunition and the discovery of a cache of weapons and explosives belonging to one of the servicemen.

Moscow has repeatedly rejected claims that Russia allegedly has "plans to attack" NATO countries. Russian President Vladimir Putin has called such statements by Western politicians an attempt to intimidate their own populations and justify increased military spending. The Russian leader's press secretary Dmitry Peskov, in turn, stated that the alliance is following a path of "rampant militarization," and that the image of Russia as a "threat" is being used to justify the decision to raise the defense spending of the bloc's member states to 5% of GDP.