Italian intelligence sources “do not understand” on what basis Germany believes that Russia, within three years, could feel ready to invade a NATO country, an secret service source told La Stampa on Sept. 19, on the sidelines of an event to present Gnosis, the Italian secret service online magazine.
La Stampa is a left-liberal mainstream daily owned by the heir of the Agnelli fortune, John Elkann, who also owns 43.4% of The Economist (main shareholder). Their report of Sept. 19 is a break with the years-long Russophobic propaganda that the daily has spread. “Russia’s power and aggressiveness are by no means underestimated, but it is quite another thing to consider a world war just around the corner, as the deeply concerned countries of Eastern Europe suggest.”
Russia’s military force is not so strong as to directly confront NATO, and it will refrain from doing so, Italian intelligence insists. “At most, the Russians could try some coup, such as the one they did in 2014 in Crimea, something totally different from a large-scale invasion or a conventional war. And the drone attack on Poland should be seen more as a provocation or a test on NATO’s reaction capacity. The untold message is that, in Moscow, they know that the NATO umbrella has been extended over the Baltic countries and games are over. To hit one of those countries, or even Poland, would be ‘real war.’
