The Netherlands no longer sees Russia merely as an aggressor, but considers it an enemy. The country’s intelligence services warn that Moscow is preparing for a possible conflict with NATO.
This was stated by the Dutch defence minister, Dilan Yeşilgöz-Zegerius, NL Times reports.
According to the minister, Russia is trying to test the resilience of Western societies, including through sabotage, drone incidents and intimidation.
“Russia is our enemy. And no, that does not mean we are at war. But we are also far from a carefree peace,” Yeşilgöz-Zegerius stressed.
In November 2025, Poland’s foreign minister Radosław Sikorski told the Sejm about acts of sabotage which, he said, were organised by Russian special services on the country’s territory. However, he did not directly call Russia an enemy at the time.
The threat from Moscow is also being noted in Japan. In the 2026 Defence White Paper, Japan’s Ministry of Defence said that Russia’s aggression against Ukraine violates international law, and that Russia’s military activity in Europe poses one of the most serious and immediate security threats.
Tokyo has also expressed concern about Russia’s military activity near Japan.
- At the end of September, Russia told NATO it was ready to use nuclear weapons if Alliance countries tried to isolate the Kaliningrad region from the rest of the Russian Federation.