live blog
The EU plans to impose tariffs on Russian grain, according to a report. The chairwoman of the Defense Committee, Strack-Zimmermann, reacted irritably to a statement by the President of the Bundestag about the “Taurus” leak. All developments in the live blog.
The CDU defense politician Johann Wadephul has criticized ideas about “freezing” the war in Ukraine. In the Morning magazine from ARD and ZDF Wadephul referred to the atrocities in Russian-occupied areas. “That’s why a freeze is not a humanitarian solution, it just gives Russia space,” said the Union parliamentary group vice-president. Russia must be stopped with weapons.
“We already froze the conflict after Crimea was annexed,” said the CDU politician. “It didn’t help either.” “The war can only end if Russia stops waging the war,” he added. If Ukraine loses, it must be assumed that Putin will continue and that the NATO states will be threatened.
Despite criticism, SPD parliamentary group leader Rolf Mützenich wants to stick to his statements about freezing the war in Ukraine. When asked what he meant by the term and whether he wanted to correct it, Mützenich told the “Neue Westfälische”: “No, I don’t want that. I am trained in the social and peace sciences. There, freezing is used as a term “used to enable temporary local ceasefires and humanitarian ceasefires in a special situation, which can be translated into a permanent absence of military force.” Of course, this requires the consent of both warring parties, which cannot be dictated from outside.
Defense Minister Boris Pistorius has warned against losing sight of Ukraine’s essential defense needs in the debate over the delivery of “Taurus” cruise missiles. Sufficient artillery ammunition, longer-range rocket artillery and air defense are the really existential questions, said the SPD politician on Deutschlandfunk before a new round of voting by Ukraine supporters in Ramstein.
He criticized the fact that information from a secret meeting of the Defense Committee became public. “The fact that secret information leaked out of the meeting is part of this cacophony. Everyone is trying to make a name for themselves through their behavior, to play their own game in some way,” said Pistorius. In any case, he was surprised that there were more than 100 participants at such a meeting.
According to him, the unity of both the government coalition and the government factions remains unbroken when it comes to supporting Ukraine. But he also warned of damage in the “Taurus” debate: “Well, first of all, this discussion has been brought to extremes for months. That’s the right of everyone who wants that. You wouldn’t have gotten to that point “We need to rule that out once and for all. However, I think it needs to be clear that support for Ukraine in other areas is more important.”
The EU will impose tariffs on grain from Russia and Belarus, according to a newspaper report. The levy of 95 euros per ton should be announced in the coming days, reports the Financial Times, citing people familiar with the plans. It is intended to appease farmers and some member states.
The chairwoman of the Defense Committee, Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, sharply rejected criticism from Bundestag President Bärbel Bas in the debate about the passing on of confidential information from the committee. The FDP politician wrote to Bas that she “noticed with irritation” Bas’s response to her report of a possible betrayal of secrets from the last special meeting. The letter from Monday was available to the dpa news agency today.
“I would like to draw your attention to the fact that the group of people taking part in the committee meetings is not at my discretion,” wrote Strack-Zimmermann in response to Bas’s statements. In addition to the MPs and representatives of the ministries, “speakers from the specialist level are also present in the meeting room to provide detailed answers”. The President of the Bundestag expressed surprise that 105 people took part in the meeting in question and that Strack-Zimmermann allowed this.
As far as she was able, she intended to sensitize the affected departments in writing and to ask them to re-examine the group of people sent by the government for classified agenda items and to reduce them as much as possible, wrote Strack-Zimmermann. After the secret meeting of the Defense Committee on Monday last week, information about the Taurus cruise missile was made public. Strack-Zimmermann announced on Friday that he wanted to involve the public prosecutor’s office.
Numerous defense ministers and high-ranking military officials will once again discuss further support for Ukraine in the war against Russia from 11 a.m. today at the US air force base in Ramstein.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin invited the members of the so-called Ukraine Contact Group to the conference at the largest air base outside the United States. Germany and Great Britain also belong to this group. As at previous meetings in Ramstein, Rhineland-Palatinate, representatives from states that are not members of NATO are also expected.
Federal Foreign Minister Baerbock has called for countering the “imperial madness” of Russian President Putin. Germany and Poland want to cooperate in supplying ammunition to Ukraine. Monday’s live blog for reading.