German Defense Ministry Thinks Russia Wants To Destabilize NATO - Reports

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 07th March, 2021) Berlin believes that Moscow seeks to "destabilize and weaken NATO" and China wants to rebuild the world order to match its own interests, Germany's Welt am Sonntag newspaper reported, citing an internal document of the German Ministry of Defense.

The document warns of a growing threat emanating from power struggle and new military capabilities in Russia and China, according to the report.

The ministry is especially worried about Russia's "high-precision, hard-to-intercept, hypersonic" long-range missiles, as well as the large investments into "preserving the potential of a retaliatory nuclear strike from the sea" and "modernizing the nuclear potential."

According to the document, as cited in the report, Moscow presently has 6,375 nuclear warheads and over 840,000 regular troops who are well-trained and ready to quickly and easily move between places if necessary. Among weaknesses, the German foreign ministry pointed to Russia's comparatively limited naval capabilities and shortage of combat drones.

The document described Russia's armed forces as an "instrument of political power," which "generates the highest possible value at relatively low cost.

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With regard to China, the German ministry believes that this country "increasingly surpasses Russia in terms of global influence, including in arms sales and military cooperation." According to the report, Beijing has 6,850 tanks, 1,600 fighter jets, over 2 million troops and advanced combat drones, in addition to the systematically expanding nuclear capacity and immense missile capacity.

Last year, China declined the United States' proposal to enter a trilateral arms control treaty together with Russia, claiming that its nuclear arsenal is far from being tantamount to Washington's and Moscow's.

Russia and the United States extended the bilateral New START arms control treaty for five years in early February.

The withdrawal of the United States from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty in 2002 prompted Russia to start developing hypersonic weapons. Moscow has now acquired the complete triad of air-, land- and sea-launched hypersonic missiles.