Ex-Merkel adviser warns: "Russia has military dominance" - call for Schröder sanctions from Brussels

Created: 05/12/2022 13:26

By: Bedrettin Bölükbasi

During the Ukraine war, Germany is training Ukrainian soldiers to use the Panzerhaubitze 2000.

A gas embargo against the Kremlin continues to be hotly debated.

News ticker.

• Ukraine conflict: The war in Ukraine also concerns Germany.

• Kuleba

  ascribes a

  “pioneering role”

  to Germany: The Ukrainian foreign minister sees Germany as a pioneer in sanctions against Russia.

• Habeck

  believes in a

  manageable gas boycott

  : According to Robert Habeck, Germany can deal with a gas boycott under certain conditions.

• Ukrainian soldiers

  arrive for

  training

  in

  Idar-Oberstein

  : The Ukrainian soldiers are to be trained on the Panzerhaubitze 2000.

• This

  news ticker on Germany's reactions to the Ukraine war

  is continuously updated.

Update from May 12, 12:25 p.m .:

SPD leader Lars Klingbeil has spoken out in favor of granting Ukraine the status of a candidate for EU membership.

It is important "that we send a clear political signal that we want Ukraine to be part of the European Union," said Klingbeil after a meeting with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba in Berlin.

"We want her to become a member and then also get candidate status," says Klingbeil.

The EU Commission wants to decide on the issue in June and make a recommendation to the member states.

Kuleba himself said he hoped that the EU summit of heads of state and government at the end of June would then grant his country candidate status.

Even if this does not mean "immediate membership", it would be an important decision for his country.

Referring to the past pro-Russian policies of the Social Democrats, Kuleba said it was "history" for him.

After the start of the Russian war of aggression, Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) initiated a turnaround, said the foreign minister after the meeting, which was also attended by SPD parliamentary group leader Rolf Mützenich.

He sees it as a "signal of strength" that Germany has changed its position and admitted that the old policy was wrong.

Germany and the Ukraine war: New demands for sanctions against Schröder

Update from May 12, 12:05 p.m .:

The Liberals in the European Parliament are demanding sanctions against former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder (SPD) because of his connection to Russia.

Parliamentarians from the Renew Group, a faction in the European Parliament in which mainly liberal parties are represented, are calling for European members of supervisory boards of Russian companies to be put on the sanctions list - especially Schröder, according to a draft resolution from which the dpa quotes.

The resolution drafted by the Renew Group is to be voted on next week in plenary.

Members of the FDP and the Free Voters from Germany belong to her.

In Germany, too, there have already been calls to sanction the SPD politician and to strip him of his privileges as former chancellor.

"Gerhard Schröder no longer represents Germany's interests, but Putin's interests," said MEP Moritz Körner (FDP).

"Accordingly, he should be sanctioned just like all other Putin profiteers," said Körner.

However, the EU Parliament cannot decide on sanctions against Russia or individuals; that is what the EU states do. 

Germany in the Ukraine war: exports to Russia collapse - a drop of 58.7 percent

Update from May 12, 11:35 a.m .:

German exports to Russia collapsed in March against the background of the Ukraine war and the economic sanctions that were imposed as a result.

Goods worth one billion euros were exported that month, a drop of 58.7 percent year-on-year, according to the Federal Statistical Office in Wiesbaden.

In particular, exports of machines (minus 73.6 percent) and chemical products (minus 40.9 percent) fell significantly.

On the other hand, much more was imported from Russia in March - but that was mainly due to the rise in raw material prices.

According to the statistics office, Russian imports in March increased by 77.7 percent to a volume of 4.4 billion euros compared to the previous year.

The most important imported goods were crude oil and natural gas, with a value increase of 56.5 percent to 2.4 billion euros.

However, the amount imported fell by 27.8 percent.

Foreign trade with Ukraine, which was under attack from Russia, also declined.

Exports fell 45.7 percent to 265.8 million euros in March, while imports from the country fell 27.5 percent to 199.6 million euros.

Germany and the Ukraine war: Ex-Merkel adviser Vad warns against underestimating Russia

Update from May 12, 10:55 a.m .:

The former military-political adviser to Chancellor Angela Merkel, Brigadier General a.

D. Erich Vad, has warned against underestimating the Russian forces in Ukraine.

Vad admitted that he initially overestimated the Russian military and assumed that the Russian army would march through to Kyiv.

“I overestimated them and underestimated the Ukrainians' will to resist.

Today, however, one runs the risk of underestimating the Russians," Vad told the conservative Swiss weekly

.

It is the Russians who are currently determining where and with what forces.

"They are advancing slowly in the Donbass, on a front about 500 kilometers wide, with 100,000 men," Vad said.

It is now important for the Ukrainians not to rely on the decisive counterattack with conventional, especially heavily armored forces.

A liberation of the Donbass is militarily impossible: "The Russians are too strong for that, they have military dominance on the ground and in the air.

The Ukrainians' chance is to prolong the conflict, inflate the cost to the Russians, and wear them down.

In the end, that can lead to victory.

Vad had recently caused a stir when he warned against the delivery of heavy weapons to Ukraine.

Germany in the Ukraine War: More than 105,000 Ukrainian students were accepted

Update from May 12, 10:45 a.m .:

Since the beginning of the Russian war of aggression, more than 105,000 students who have fled Ukraine have found accommodation in German schools.

In the past week, a total of 105,869 children were admitted to general and vocational schools, according to the Conference of Ministers of Education in Berlin.

Compared to the previous week, there are 14,297 more refugees.

With 20,695 children and young people, the largest federal state of Bavaria has so far taken in the most pupils.

North Rhine-Westphalia followed with 18,232 and Baden-Württemberg with 15,393 new admissions.

As in the previous week, North Rhine-Westphalia reported the most new admissions: 3,532 new pupils from the Ukraine were admitted within one week.

Germany and the Ukraine War: Kuleba ascribes a “pioneering role” to Germany

Update from May 12, 10:40 a.m .:

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has identified a positive development in Germany regarding the issue of arms deliveries to Ukraine - and emphasized the federal government's "pioneering role" in sanctions against Russia.

"We see that the Federal Republic has currently taken on the pioneering role and is playing the first fiddle in Europe," said Kuleba in the ARD morning magazine.

He would not want to "overrate the negative moments".

The government in Kyiv has also sharply criticized the federal government through its ambassador Andriy Melnyk in recent weeks, above all because of what it sees as being too hesitant on the issue of arms supplies to Ukraine.

The Ukrainian government's refusal to receive Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier in Kyiv was a diplomatic affront.

"It was a completely normal conversation between the two sides, in which things were called as they should be," said Kuleba.

"If we see delays, then we openly refer to them," said the minister.

He also commented on EU membership: “We are not talking about EU membership as quickly as possible.

But for us it is important to reserve this place for Ukraine.” It is often said that Ukraine belongs to Europe, now is the time to reserve this place.

Germany in the Ukraine war: Bundeswehr sends evacuation planes for the wounded

Update from May 12, 8:41 a.m

.: The Bundeswehr is on a new evacuation flight to transport war-wounded Ukrainians from Poland to Germany.

The Luftwaffe's A310 MedEvac special aircraft took off from Cologne this Thursday morning.

This is reported by the dpa news agency.

After picking up the injured in Poland, the machine should later land in Frankfurt am Main.

In the past few weeks, seriously injured children and adults have repeatedly been brought to Germany by plane for treatment in order to be able to provide them with better medical care.

The A310 MedEvac is the Air Force's flying intensive care unit.

The injured are treated further in the air by medical personnel.

An Airbus A310 MedEvac at Cologne Airport in April 2022. © Henning Kaiser/dpa

Germany and the Ukraine war: Habeck already believes in a manageable gas boycott this winter

Update from May 12, 6:36 a.m

.: In the Ukraine war, Germany is trying, among other things, to become more independent of Russian gas.

But can the country take it?

Economics Minister Robert Habeck believes that this is possible for the coming winter.

The prerequisites are full gas storage at the turn of the year, the grid connection of two of the four rented LNG tankers and energy saving, the Green politician now told

: "Then we can get through the winter to some extent if the Russian gas supplies are demolished."

Germany in the Ukraine war: dispute over a possible Russia gas embargo

According to Habeck, two of the four liquefied natural gas (LNG) ships ordered for Germany already replace almost a quarter of Russian natural gas imports.

Despite the progress, Habeck warned in the

interview of the economic risks of a gas stop: "Even under the conditions mentioned, the gas prices would then certainly be very high and the storage tanks would be empty at the end of winter."

Germany is heavily dependent on Russian gas.

Demands for a gas embargo, for example, are therefore controversial.

According to the latest information from the Ministry of Economic Affairs, dependency has fallen from 55 percent to around 35 percent since the beginning of the war.

German reactions in the Ukraine-Russia war: Gladbach allows a friendly game

Update from May 11, 8:58 p.m .:

Borussia Mönchengladbach welcomes the Ukrainian national football team to a special benefit game.

The encounter this Wednesday in Borussia Park has been running on Pro7 since 8:45 p.m.

It is the country's first game since Russia invaded Ukraine.

The money won through the game is intended to benefit people from and in Ukraine.

The stadium is well attended, the Ukraine anthem was sung before kick-off.

And protested against the war together.

Emotional scenes before kick-off.

The Ukrainians even took a 1-0 lead in the 10th minute.

"We can on the one hand help the Ukrainian Football Association to prepare for their upcoming international matches and on the other hand provide a platform to express how despicable what is happening in Ukraine is," said Gladbach's chief executive Stephan Schippers previously.

Ukraine are scheduled to play the semi-finals of the World Cup playoffs in Scotland on June 1.

If the team wins, they play Wales four days later for a place at the World Cup in Qatar.

Update from May 11, 4:28 p.m .:

According to Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD), Ukraine will still have to deal with the consequences of the war for “a hundred years” because of explosive devices that remain everywhere.

"Anyone who lives in Germany knows that the bombs that fell here during the Second World War are still being discovered today," said the Chancellor on Wednesday after a meeting with Argentine President Alberto Ángel Fernández in Berlin.

"That's why we will also advance the reconstruction together," said Scholz.

The Russian war of aggression is not only a war against Ukraine, "but also a war with consequences for the whole world," added the Chancellor, referring to rising energy and food prices and the threat of hunger crises in poorer countries.

Update from May 11, 3:45 p.m

.: The press conference by Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) and Argentine President Alberto Fernández was about the poor economic situation in Argentina in addition to the Russian war against Ukraine.

Scholz emphasized that progress on the Mercosur agreement is essential.

They also want to work more closely together in the energy sector.

The country has great potential for green hydrogen.

Shortly before the Ukraine war, Fernández was visiting Moscow and turned in particular to China and Russia - now that the war has broken out, the signs are different.

A visit to France is also on the Argentine President's agenda.

Germany as a war party?

Ukrainian soldiers land in Idar-Oberstein for training on self-propelled howitzers

Update from May 11, 3:25 p.m

.: Does the training of Ukrainian soldiers on heavy weapons that has now begun make Germany a war party?

Federal Minister of Justice Marco Buschmann (FDP) says: no.

He assumes that "the situation under international law has not changed," said Buschmann in the Bundestag on Wednesday.

To justify his position, Buschmann referred to the UN Charter, according to which war is fundamentally forbidden - with the exception of defensive wars.

"In international war law, everyone agrees: If you are the victim of an aggressor, you can defend yourself," emphasized the FDP politician on Wednesday during a survey in the Bundestag.

He added: "Now that doesn't include a counter-attack that takes over all enemy territory, but of course in response to that you're allowed to operate on enemy territory, even in border areas." Buschmann continued: "It would be crazy if the who behaves in accordance with international law would have to go into the conflict more chained than the illegitimate aggressor.”

"My legal assessment is that we are not becoming a party to the war," said Federal Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht (SPD) on ZDF.

"We're not sending soldiers.

And that’s why this training, this support is not yet a step towards becoming a war party.”

Germany in the Ukraine-Russia war: countries criticize the federal budget with a relief package

Update from May 11, 11:45 a.m

.: The federal states are expressing massive criticism of the 2022 supplementary budget with the relief package for the consequences of the Ukraine war and are demanding greater financial participation from the federal government.

"The whole thing has such serious flaws that I - at least as of today - cannot recommend approving this federal budget," said Hesse's Prime Minister Volker Bouffier (CDU) on Wednesday in a special session of the Bundesrat.

Bouffier complained that some population groups that are particularly dependent on support received nothing from measures such as the planned energy price flat rate.

About retirees or students.

The 2022 supplementary budget will essentially finance measures intended to mitigate the consequences of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine for people and the economy in Germany.

The expenditure of almost 40 billion euros will be financed by new debt alone.

The federal government's new debt will thus increase to a total of 138.9 billion euros this year.

Ukraine-Germany-News: Ukrainians land in Idar-Oberstein for training on self-propelled howitzers

First report from May 11, 11 a.m

.: Munich – According to the United States, the Ukraine war will not end quickly.

This map shows where the Ukraine war is raging.

On the contrary: American secret services expect a “protracted war”.

It is "likely" that Russian President Vladimir Putin will take an increasingly "unpredictable and potentially escalating" path in the coming months, said Avril Haines, the US's top intelligence coordinator.

Most Western countries seem to be aware of this and are stepping up their support for Ukraine - both economically and financially.

After the United States announced a new billion-euro package, Germany is speeding up military aid for Ukraine.

At the end of April, a historic go-ahead was given for the delivery of heavy weapons to Ukraine.

Discussions are still going on, but progress is being made.

Among the systems to be delivered is the Panzerhaubitze 2000.

Germany and the Ukraine War: Ukrainian soldiers arrive in Idar-Oberstein for training

Ukrainian soldiers have now arrived in Germany for weapon training.

The future crews of the Panzerhaubitze 2000 and technical experts landed in Rhineland-Palatinate.

They are to be briefed on Wednesday (May 11) in training at the Bundeswehr Artillery School in Idar-Oberstein, as the German Press Agency learned from government circles in Berlin.

To defend against the Russian attack, Germany and the Netherlands want to hand over a total of twelve self-propelled howitzers to the Ukraine.

They are each served by five soldiers.

The number of soldiers planned for the training is therefore more than 60. There are also technical experts and translators.

According to dpa information, the Ukrainian soldiers started in Poland and were flown to Zweibrücken Airport in a Bundeswehr transport plane.

According to earlier information, the training should last about 40 days, or less depending on the level of knowledge of the soldiers.

They would have to learn how to drive the self-propelled howitzer, shoot it and troubleshoot operations. 

A Panzerhaubitze 2000 (PzH 2000 for short) of the Bundeswehr drives on a training ground during the "Wettiner Heide" exercise on May 10 in Lower Saxony.

© Philipp Schulze/dpa

Germany and the Ukraine war: Hermann calls for pressure on society instead of more weapons for Ukraine

Not everyone is enthusiastic about these developments, including Baden-Württemberg's Transport Minister Winfried Hermann (Greens).

He has reiterated his opposition to further arms sales to Ukraine, calling instead for more pressure on civil society in Russia.

"We really have to build up civil communication now," said the green party left in the ARD "Morgenmagazin".

This means, for example, that not all municipalities should break ties with partner municipalities in Russia.

Schools and universities would have had relationships.

"We have to use this to influence society in Russia so that pressure is created there to end the war," said the 69-year-old.

Although he is of the opinion that there should be a right to self-defense, said Hermann.

But one should not only rely on weapons and not only on more and more weapons, he justified his rejection of further arms deliveries.

There is a risk that this will further escalate the conflict.

Hermann's views contradict statements made by party colleague and Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann.

The 73-year-old expressly supports arms deliveries to Ukraine.

On Monday, Kretschmann described them as "essential".

Germany and the Ukraine war: Ramelow with an oil embargo warning - "Loss of 7000 jobs"

Meanwhile, the debate about a possible oil embargo is in full swing.

Thuringia's Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow (left) has now warned of the consequences of such a step for East Germany.

Russian "Oil and gas first arrive in East Germany, which means that all the processing stages are directly there," said Ramelow in the ARD "Morgenmagazin".

"With all the war-related losses to be expected, we are talking about 7,000 jobs in the glass industry in Thuringia," said the left-wing politician.

He "does not support the sanctions as a matter of urgency," but supports everything that will prevent Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin from "continuing the war," stressed Ramelow.

From his point of view, it is much more important "that the oligarchs have to be cut off from the money supply".

In addition, a move away from fossil fuels is necessary.

The timely switch to renewable energies was neglected, instead Germany had relied on “cheap fossil energy” from Russia for too long.