Ukraine-News: Lambrecht irritates with "cheetah" statement in the Bundestag - BaWü Minister proposes "war solos".
Created: 06/24/2022, 06:11
By: Felix Durach, Tom Offinger
Defense Minister Lambrecht spoke in the Bundestag about arms deliveries to Ukraine.
Her statements about tanks caused a stir.
The news ticker.
Lambrecht
caused a stir with
Cheetah's statement
: the opposition doubted the Defense Minister's expertise.
Melnyk
apologizes to
Scholz
for the
"liver sausage" statement
: The 46-year-old said in an interview that he now regrets his statement.
This
news ticker
on German reactions to the Ukraine war is constantly updated.
Update from June 23, 10:05 p.m .:
The Baden-Württemberg Finance Minister Danyal Bayaz considers tax increases after the crisis to be unavoidable due to the great burden of the Ukraine war and the corona pandemic.
"Why not something like a war solo in such a difficult time," asked the Green politician on Thursday evening in the
SWR
program "Zur Sache Baden-Württemberg".
The traffic light has ruled out tax increases in its coalition agreement.
"I think that's also dangerous in an acute crisis." But once this crisis is over, the question needs to be answered as to who will pay for the aid packages and the special fund for the Bundeswehr.
That's only possible with tax increases.
"In my opinion, at the end of the day you can't avoid it."
Bayaz emphasized that the question of tax justice must also be asked.
Unlike the Greens in the federal government, he rejects reintroducing the wealth tax as too costly and bureaucratic.
Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) is not entirely wrong with his concerns.
"Every year the company, the vintage car, the Picasso on the wall has to be reassessed," said the Green.
Costs and benefits are not balanced here.
There are better ways to tax the rich more heavily.
He advocated reducing the exemptions from inheritance tax.
In any case, it is not a long-term solution to just shoulder the additional burdens through higher debts.
Cuts in gas supplies: Russia rejects allegations by Berlin
Update from June 23, 1:20 p.m .:
In the dispute over the reduction in Russian gas supplies, the Kremlin described Berlin’s accusation that this was politically motivated as “strange”.
Russia will increase deliveries again as soon as the missing turbines have been delivered, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in Moscow.
"If a turbine needs to be checked and you don't use it again after the repair (...), everything is clear, there is no ambiguity," said Peskow.
Germany is "well informed about the maintenance cycles", so it is "really strange to call it political".
Russia remains a "reliable" supplier, the Kremlin spokesman assured.
According to Russian information, the Siemens group has not used turbines to compress gas again after they have been repaired.
As a result, Russia was forced to cut back supplies through the Nord Stream 1 Baltic Sea pipeline by around 60 percent.
Ukraine-News: Lambrecht with a questionable statement - "cheetah is not a tank"
Update from June 23, 10:30 a.m .:
Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht (SPD) answered questions from the plenum in the German Bundestag on Wednesday.
A key issue in the government survey was the delivery of heavy weapons by Germany to Ukraine.
In this context, the defense policy spokesman for the Union parliamentary group in the Bundestag, Florian Hahn (CSU), put a question to the defense minister.
The 48-year-old wanted to know from Lambrecht where the federal government would see a substantial difference between the Marder and Gepard tank types in the context of the Ukraine conflict.
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Because while the traffic light coalition had approved the delivery of Gepard tanks to Ukraine, a delivery of Marder tanks has so far been rejected.
Lambrecht promptly had an answer to the question: “The cheetah is not a tank.
That's the difference." The cheetah is "classified differently" than the marten, the defense minister continued.
This is also “the classification of the general inspector or the military advice.
That's the difference.” “There hasn't been any delivery of western-style tanks so far and that's why there won't be any German going it alone,” Lambrecht concludes her statement.
Ukraine-News: Lambrecht causes a stir with cheetah statement - opposition criticizes lack of expertise
A clear statement from the SPD politician.
But also a comprehensible explanation?
"Of course, the cheetah is a tank, an anti-aircraft tank ,
" explains military historian Prof. Sönke Neitzel from the University of Potsdam to
bild.de.
So both cheetah and marten are tanks by definition.
The purpose of the weapon systems is probably more decisive for the distinction.
The cheetah is used for repelling enemy planes and helicopters at low altitude.
However, the Marder is one of the main battle tanks and is used to fight enemy tanks and infantry on the ground.
Anti-aircraft tanks of the Gepard type are being delivered from Germany to Ukraine.
(Archive image) © Björn Trotsky/imago-images
Even if the differences between the Marder and the Cheetah are large, both weapon systems are definitely tanks.
Lambrecht's imprecision in the details of defense issues was therefore also a treat for the opposition.
"Official designation: 'anti-aircraft gun tank Gepard', but in the opinion of the Federal Minister of Defense 'not a tank'," wrote CDU politician Johann Wadepuhl via Twitter with the ironic hashtag "expertise".
Ukraine News: Melnyk apologizes to Scholz for "liver sausage" statement
First report from June 22, 6 p.m.:
The Ambassador of Ukraine in Germany, Andriy Melnyk, wants to apologize to Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) for his much-criticized "liver sausage" statement.
"That is a statement that I later regret, of course," said Melnyk in the "Top Talks" format of
Spiegel
(Wednesday).
He will apologize to him personally, the diplomat added.
The statement was "diplomatically inappropriate" and "offended many people, not only in Germany".
Wants to apologize for his comment: Ambassador Andriy Melnyk.
© picture alliance/dpa |
Michael Kappeler
At the beginning of May, Melnyk criticized Scholz's preliminary no to a trip to Kyiv with the words: "Playing an insulted liver sausage doesn't sound very statesmanlike." After much hesitation, Scholz finally visited Ukraine in mid-June.
The ambassador also said that the statement had also caused a nuisance in the Ukrainian government.
"My president was not amused," Melnyk said of Volodymyr Zelensky's reaction.
He also had to explain his statement to the Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba.
