On October 14, Dutch Defense Minister Ank Bijleveld declared that her country is in “cyberwar” with Russia.
“What happened is really dangerous,” Bijleveld told Dutch broadcaster NPO refering to an April incident near the headquarters of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), which, she said, involved alleged Russian intelligence officers.
When she was asked if this situation can be described as “cyberwar“, Bijleveld said: “Yes, that is the case.”
“People try to interfere in various ways in our life all the time, to influence our democracy. We have to shake off the naivety in this domain and take measures,” she stated. “We are investing more in intelligence services to be able to see what is going on and take measures if necessary.”
Bijleveld added that the Netherlands has offered NATO to employ its “cybersoldiers.” This very statement sounds like a nonsense because NATO soldiers have been already employed in various operation around the world (for example in Syria) for a long time. In general, the remarks by the Dutch Defense Minister show that the US and its allies are actively creating preconditions for an open cyber and economic or even military agression against their key global and regional competitors, including China, Russia and Iran.
