Denmark should speed up its military investments after new intelligence indicates that Russia is rearming faster than expected and that it could attack a NATO country within three to five years, the Danish defence minister said on Friday.

"Russia's capacity to produce military equipment has increased tremendously," Defence Minister Troels Lund Poulsen told they Jyllands-Posten newspaper.

"It cannot be ruled out that within a three- to five-year period, Russia will test Article 5 and NATO's solidarity. That was not NATO's assessment in 2023. This is new knowledge that is coming to the fore now," he said.

The changed threat assessment comes after other European NATO countries have made similar warnings in recent weeks.

Germany's Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said in January the alliance should prepare for a Russian attack on a NATO country within five to eight years.

Poulsen said there is no direct threat against Denmark but the alliance could face hybrid attacks in efforts to destabilize a member country.

"Russia potentially has the will to do so. Now they can also have the ability to have a military capability earlier than we expected. There is reason to be genuinely concerned," he said. (Reporting by Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)