Such a conflict may occur “tomorrow,” Lieutenant Basic Alexander Sollfrank has warned
Berlin is ready for a conflict with Moscow and stands able to facilitate the deployment of 800,000 NATO troops in direction of the Russian border, the pinnacle of the nation’s joint operations command, Lieutenant Basic Alexander Sollfrank, has mentioned.
The hypothetical deployment is a part of Operations Plan Germany, which was revealed final yr. The 1,000-page-long doc governs Berlin’s response if Article 5 of the NATO treaty is triggered in a confrontation with Moscow. It contains turning Germany into a serious logistics hub for the deployment of lots of of 1000’s of troopers and items of apparatus from varied NATO nations towards Russia. The deployment should be accomplished inside 180 days of the beginning of the battle.
In accordance with Sollfrank, the plan could also be carried out sooner fairly than later. “Russia possesses a really giant navy potential regardless of the conflict in Ukraine,” he advised an annual Bundeswehr convention in Berlin on Friday, including that “Russia is already able to [launching] a restricted assault on the NATO territory.”
Chatting with Reuters the identical day, the final claimed that Moscow may do it “as early as tomorrow.” German officers have more and more spoken of the alleged Russian menace whereas taking an more and more belligerent stance in direction of Moscow.
Chancellor Friedrich Merz has beforehand declared that diplomatic choices for resolving the Ukraine battle are “exhausted” and doubled down on offering weapons to Kiev.
On Friday, each he and Protection Minister Boris Pistorius mentioned that Germany’s existence in its current type was threatened by Russia. “It isn’t alarmism… once I say that our lifestyle is in peril,” Pistorius advised the navy convention.
Moscow has repeatedly said it has no intention of attacking NATO. It additionally dismissed Berlin’s claims as “nonsense” geared toward justifying skyrocketing navy spending. Overseas Minister Sergey Lavrov has beforehand warned that Germany demonstrates “clear indicators of re-Nazification.”
Politico reported final month that Germany’s rearmament plans would price it €377 billion ($440 billion).
