Although many European leaders have warned that Russia may invade in the next years, Spain’s leader is taking a slightly more realistic view of the war in Ukraine and how it might impact his own country.
“For any Eastern European, Nordic or Baltic country, the threat demands a response in which deterrence relies primarily on defense investment. However, in Spain, this is not the case. Our threat is not Russia bringing its troops over the Pyrenees. When we talk about Russia, it is more of a hybrid threat,” said Spain’s socialist, left-wing prime minister, Pedro Sánchez.
He oversees a country at the bottom of NATO’s military budget rankings, expected to reach NATO’s 2 percent GDP spending target sometime before 2029.
However, Sánchez claims Spain does not need guns and tanks, as threats other than a Russian invasion must also be taken into account. He has thus asked for NATO defense spending to include cybersecurity, counterterrorism, and efforts to combat climate change.
“This is the threat of cyberattacks. So we need to talk not just about defense, but fundamentally about security,” the Spanish prime minster added.
This is far from the first time, concerns regarding cyber warfare from Putin have been in the headlines. Last November, Politico ran an article with the headline, “UK warning: Russia’s ‘aggressive’ cyber warfare is threat to NATO,” followed by the Guardian with an even more dramatic headline: “‘Russia can turn the lights off’: how the UK is preparing for cyberwar.”
Last year, Remix News reported on Russian attacks on Poland, while Russian hackers were also tied to a wave of attacks on Sweden as well.
Other countries have been more alarmist, with German intelligence claiming that an attack on German soil could happen “within weeks.” Others have given a timeline of approximately five years until Russia attacks. Many experts believe such a scenario is unlikely due to the role of NATO, which has not only far larger and more advanced militaries than Russia, but also has a defense alliance that would result in defense from all the member countries.
