German Foreign Minister Johann Wadeful warned that the threat Russia poses to Germany should not be underestimated, DPA reported, BTA reports.
“Russia directly threatens our peaceful and free life in Germany“, said Vaddeful in an interview with the “Funke“ media group, published today.
According to him, Russia's war against Ukraine is the biggest threat to security in Europe and the most important issue in Germany's foreign policy.
Vaddeful welcomed the decisions of the last NATO summit in The Hague, where the alliance countries agreed to increase defense spending to 5% of gross domestic product, describing this step as “correct and necessary“.
The foreign minister, who is a leading representative of Chancellor Friedrich Merz's Christian Democratic Union (CDU), sharply criticized Russian President Vladimir Putin for “attacks on the fighting spirit of the Ukrainian people through indiscriminate bombing“. He stressed that “the freedom of Ukraine is the most important test of our resolve as Europeans“.
At the same time, an internal dispute has broken out within the government's coalition partner, the German Social Democratic Party (SPD), over its approach to Russia.
A document signed by influential party figures such as Rolf Mützenich, Norbert Walter-Borjans, foreign policy expert Ralf Stegner and several other MPs calls for the start of direct diplomatic talks with Moscow and expresses disagreement with the government's rearmament plans.
However, at the SPD party congress over the weekend, leader Lars Klingbeil defended the current hard line towards Russia. He stressed that Germany must do everything necessary to defend itself and ruled out any change of course towards the Kremlin.