NATO allies accelerate rearmament amid Russian threat warnings

Germany’s defence minister Boris Pistorius says NATO must prepare for the possibility of a Russian threat by 2029, a view echoed by other Western officials and military intelligence assessments. Speaking to CBC News, Pistorius said European countries were too slow to respond after Russia’s annexation of Crimea and only fully recognized the danger after the 2022 fullscale invasion of Ukraine. He said Germany is now pushing ahead with a major military buildup, including a much larger defence budget and a goal of building Europe’s strongest conventional force. The article also points to broader NATO concerns, including warnings from senior alliance officials about the need to speed up weapons production and recent U.S. plans to reduce some conventional forces assigned to NATO. Intelligence reports from Nordic countries suggest Russia is expanding bases and infrastructure near NATO’s northern and Baltic borders, adding urgency to rearmament efforts across the alliance.