German Chancellor Friedrich Merz warned Tuesday that Russia is building a new class of submarines designed to destroy undersea cables, pipelines, and other infrastructure, saying security threats across northern Europe are growing.
"I was in Finland yesterday, where we held an EU summit on security policy in the Arctic region with the Nordic states. What we were told there did nothing to alleviate my concerns," Merz said.
"We are seeing a massive threat to our entire undersea infrastructure. Russia is currently building a new class of submarines designed to destroy undersea cables, pipelines, and infrastructure," he added.
Merz made the remarks at the Chancellery while receiving winners of a youth research competition after an EU Arctic security summit in Finland with Nordic states. He also took questions from the students on domestic and international issues.
Asked about the impact of international conflicts and war on Germany's economy and technology sectors, Merz said Europeans will have to "grapple with threats to their freedom" for quite some time, pointing to risks posed by Russia.
He defended his government's decision to raise defense spending to record levels, saying the threat is serious.
"Sometimes I step back from my desk and think: 'Damn it, what are we actually doing here?' We are spending staggering amounts of money on defense," Merz said.
"Couldn't we do better? Couldn't we put that money to use elsewhere? Yes, of course we could. And I take no pleasure in having to allocate such a large share of the federal budget to defense. If we lived in a peaceful world, we could save a great deal of money."
"But we do not live in a peaceful world. We see the threat to our freedom."
- Homegrown European tech capabilities
Merz also stressed that Europeans must build their own technological capabilities in security and defense. He praised the success of German company Isar Aerospace, whose Spectrum rocket, launched from Norway earlier this month, deployed European-made satellites.
He said Europe needs its own alternatives to US navigation and satellite systems. "We are currently establishing a geostationary satellite system that will make us independent of GPS and Elon Musk," Merz said, referring to the American entrepreneur whose SpaceX dominates commercial launches and satellite networks.
The chancellor also disclosed that the navigation system on his aircraft failed during a flight to northern Europe due to Russian jamming.
"Some of you here likely know that I am a pilot myself. I don't fly at the moment, but I did for many years," he told the students. "I experienced a situation on a flight to Northern Europe where my entire navigation system failed because the Russians were jamming it. We are now making civil aviation less dependent on such vulnerabilities."
He did not say when the flight took place.
