Former lieutenant general Marc Thys: “If war breaks out today, the Belgian army must start throwing stones after a few hours” | Domestic

According to Thys, the Belgian army has run out of ammunition and it urgently needs to be rebuilt. “I was responsible for the equipment for eight years and I had an annual budget of 15 million euros to buy ammunition. This has currently increased tenfold to 150 million. But if you look at the structural need to be able to fight for 30 to 60 days, then we are talking about 5 to 7 billion euros.”

Thys also really believes that Russian President Vladimir Putin would dare to attack NATO when he is done with Ukraine. “Absolutely,” he says. “You cannot make the mistake of looking at everything individually. We look at Ukraine as an isolated fact. However, Russia has a global vision of the world order. China and Russia, both. They have a certain vision about what that world order should look like and for them it is not led by Europe and the United States.”

The fact that Putin threatened Latvia on Monday during a meeting of the Russian Human Rights Council is a sign of the times, according to Thys. “According to Putin, it is his divine right that the Baltic states are part of Russia,” he says.

LOOK. Putin threatens Latvia: “I don’t believe happiness comes to those who pursue such a policy”

Influencing parties and elections in the West is also part of the plan, according to the former lieutenant general. “There are forces in our European countries that are supported by the Kremlin, such as Marine Le Pen in France. They come with messages that fit into that world order.”

Thys was previously concerned about the threat from Russia on X. “I said two years ago that we had five to seven years left,” he says. “We haven’t done anything for two years now. There is still work to be done.”