Ukraine summons German ambassador – Navy chief has to go

threat from Russia
Ukraine summons German ambassador – Marine chief Schönbach has to go after a controversial statement

The fact that Germany has so far only supported Ukraine diplomatically and morally in view of the threat posed by Russian troops at the border continues to be met with incomprehension. According to a statement in Kiev, the no to the delivery of defense weapons was tantamount to “encouragement” by Russian President Vladimir Putin. Now the mood is getting worse. The German Ambassador to Ukraine, Anka Feldhusen, was summoned on Saturday. Reason are controversial statements of a German military. Despite this, Kiev is again asking Berlin for help.

It is about the “unacceptability of the statements made by the Commander-in-Chief of the German Navy, Kay-Achim Schönbach,” it said in a letter from the ministry on Saturday. Among other things, it is about his statement that “Crimea will never return to Ukraine and that our state will not meet the membership criteria for NATO,” it said. Specifically, the Navy Inspector Vice Admiral Kay-Achim Schönbach said at an event in India in a video published on the Internet: “The Crimean peninsula is gone, it will not come back.”

Marine Chief Schönbach draws consequences

Schönbach has meanwhile rowed back and described his words as “imprudent” and “a clear mistake”. The Ministry of Defense distanced itself from the Vice Admiral’s statements. The situation changed that evening. Schönbach vacates his post after the controversial statements himself. The Ministry of Defense informed the representatives in the Bundestag on Saturday evening, as the German Press Agency learned. Business Insider Germany reports that Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht (SPD) then put him on temporary retirement.

Ukraine: Western unity would be more important than ever

In addition, Ukraine once again complained that Germany did not want to supply defense weapons to the country: “We express our deep disappointment at the German government’s position regarding the non-grant of defense weapons to Ukraine.” Kiev has repeatedly asked the German government to supply defensive weapons. The federal government has so far stuck to its clear no – regardless of the fact that other NATO countries are now supplying Ukraine accordingly. Federal Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht (SPD) told the “Welt am Sonntag”: “Weapons deliveries would not be helpful at the moment. That is the consensus in the federal government.”

The Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba had also criticized Germany’s position with regard to his country’s conflict with Russia on Twitter. “Germany’s current statements are disappointing,” he wrote in the short message service on Saturday. This contradicts the aid provided since 2014, for which Kiev is grateful. “Now more than ever, the unity of the West towards Russia is important.” “Considerable efforts together” are needed to rein in Russia, said Kuleba. The German partners must stop “undermining this unity with statements and actions”.

interview

Russia-Ukraine conflict

Expert calls for a new assessment of foreign policy: “Today’s arms exports are the result of lobbying”

01/19/2022

Merz calls on Chancellor Scholz to take the initiative

In an interview with RTL/n-tv, the newly elected CDU federal chairman Friedrich Merz agreed with the statements made by the Ukrainian government. “I asked Chancellor Scholz to take the initiative with others,” said Merz. The CDU politician emphasized that the European heads of government must now decide on joint measures to show that they take the situation on the Ukrainian-Russian border seriously. “Russia is endangering the territorial integrity of a European country. That’s why the European Union must find an answer now,” Merz continued. When asked whether ex-Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) should be consulted in view of the situation, Merz said Merkel was certainly one of the people who had intimate knowledge of the situation, but it was up to the new Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) to decide and lead.

The CDU defense politician Johann David Wadephul was more drastic. He accused the traffic light coalition of “flying blind in security policy” and warned of a loss of German reputation in NATO. Months ago, today’s Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck (Greens) “rightly” initiated a debate about the delivery of defensive weapons to Ukraine. Meanwhile, CSU boss Markus Söder also rejected German arms deliveries to Ukraine. Commenting on Kiev’s call for NATO membership, Bavaria’s head of government told the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung”: “From my point of view, it’s clear that NATO’s eastward expansion to include Ukraine won’t be on the agenda for a long time to come.”

Ukraine asks for equipment for volunteers

Meanwhile, Ukraine has called on Germany for further assistance. At the moment, his country urgently needs “100,000 helmets and protective vests for the volunteers who are currently signing up for the Landwehr to defend their homeland together with the armed forces,” said the Ukrainian ambassador to Germany, Andriy Melnyk, the “Handelsblatt”. Defense Minister Lambrecht announced again in the “Welt” that in February “a complete field hospital would be handed over, including the necessary training, all co-financed by Germany with 5.3 million euros”.

dho / RTL
DPA
AFP