Belgian defense chief warns of ‘dark winter’ for Europe, citing Russian ‘hybrid’ threats

Belgian Defense Minister Theo Francken on Wednesday warned that Europe should prepare for further Russian “hybrid attacks” in the coming months, saying the continent faces a “dark winter.”

Speaking at the Euronews Defence and Space Summit in Brussels, Francken described Russia as “the greatest threat” to the security of Belgium and Europe.

He called for stronger European air defenses.

“Air attacks by Russia. That’s the biggest threat. So we need air defense, air defense, air defense,” he said.

Francken stressed that Europe needed access to Ukrainian technology to counter modern Russian drones.

“We need to have more stocks, more production, large-scale production, and a broad industrial base. Everything has to go faster,” he said.

Francken said there would be more hybrid threat actions in the next few months.

“It will be a dark winter for Europe,” he warned.

The minister said Russia had decades of experience with hybrid operations and argued that Belgium and its allies must be able to adapt quickly to technological developments.

He said they should avoid stockpiling equipment that could rapidly become obsolete.

Francken also acknowledged that Belgium had underinvested in defense for decades, saying the country had been “the worst student in the NATO class” when it spent around 1% of its gross domestic product on defense.

Belgium has since doubled its defense spending, Francken said, but cautioned that decades of underinvestment could not be reversed quickly.

“You can’t catch up in 18 months with what was neglected for 40 years,” he said.

Francken added that spending 5% of gross domestic product on defense would not be realistic for Belgium in the foreseeable future, citing the country’s difficult fiscal situation.