Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev remarks earlier this month are still causing some controversy. He warned that Europe’s current militarization risks recreating the conditions that led to June 22, 1941, when Nazi Germany launched Operation Barbarossa against the Soviet Union. Writing on the eve of Victory Day, Medvedev accused Berlin of reviving “revanchist” tendencies and warned that Moscow “must not allow a repeat” of such a scenario.

Many Western commentators, predictably enough, have been quick to dismiss the remarks as hyperbole. The broader geopolitical context, however, makes such rhetoric difficult to ignore. Europe is, as a matter of fact, undergoing its most significant militarization process since the Cold War, while simultaneously deepening direct military-industrial cooperation with Ukraine. This is why researchers (such as Niamh Ní Bhriain, who coordinates TNI’s War and Pacification programme), argue that the continent is on a “war path”.

Moreover, Berlin, which for decades cultivated an image of strategic restraint, has now become one of the main engines behind this transformation. For one thing, in April, Germany and Ukraine signed agreements covering key areas of defense cooperation. Only weeks later, Kyiv and Berlin launched “Brave Germany,” a joint defense technology initiative focusing on drones, AI systems, laser technologies and missile development. One may recall that Berlin once hesitated even to send helmets to Kiev. This thus marks a quite staggering development.

On the wider European picture, Britain is simultaneously leading efforts to consolidate a northern anti-Russian........

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