The Limited Times

Now you can see non-English news...

According to party colleague Baerbock: According to Habeck, Germany is not a war party

2023-01-27T15:22:11.137Z


After a controversial statement by Foreign Minister Baerbock, her party colleague joined the debate: Germany is not a party to the war in Ukraine, says Economics Minister Habeck. Not the only one.


Enlarge image

Economics Minister Robert Habeck: »Putin has broken with the European post-war order«

Photo:

IMAGO/Christian Spicker

After a controversial statement by Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens), Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) emphasized that Germany is not and will not be a war party in the Ukraine war.

"That's the limit," Habeck told the "taz" on Saturday.

"Putin broke with the European post-war order and attacked a sovereign state - here, in Europe," said Habeck, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Habeck said he considered it necessary to support Ukraine in its self-defence.

So that Russia does not win, Germany has repeatedly adjusted the support and will certainly check it again and again.

When asked under what circumstances negotiations between Russia and Ukraine could take place, the Green politician said: "Believe me, not a day goes by that I don't wish the war would end.

But for negotiations, Ukraine must be in a military situation that will allow it to restore its territorial integrity.”

“We support Ukraine, but we are not a party to the war”

"NATO and Germany are not warring parties in Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine," said deputy government spokeswoman Christiane Hoffmann on Friday in Berlin.

»We support Ukraine, but we are not at war.«

On Tuesday at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, Baerbock had called for the cohesion of the western allies with the following words: "We are fighting a war against Russia and not against each other." The Russian state media gratefully took up this statement as a key sentence for war propaganda - as proof that Germany and the other EU countries are direct parties to the conflict in Ukraine and are fighting against Russia.

In the longer discussion in which the statement was made, the point was to underline that the EU, the G7 countries and NATO are united against the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine, said a spokesman for the Federal Foreign Office in Berlin.

»Russian propaganda keeps taking statements, sentences, attitudes, positions of the federal government, our partners, and twisting them in such a way that it serves their goal.

In my opinion, it doesn't make sense to go into that now," said the spokesman.

"Whoever is escalating here is Russia." In terms of international law, Germany is not a party to the conflict.

"In this context, the foreign minister must be understood," said the spokesman.

The German embassy in Moscow also based itself on this position: "Supporting Ukraine with material to exercise its individual right of self-defense against Russia's illegal war of aggression, which is enshrined in the UN Charter, does not make Germany a party to the conflict."

The spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, had demanded an explanation from the German ambassador in Moscow about "contradictory" statements from Berlin.

On the one hand, Germany declares that it is not a party to the conflict in Ukraine.

On the other hand, Baerbock says that the countries of Europe are at war with Russia.

“Do you understand what you are talking about?” Zakharova wrote on the Telegram news channel.

Criticism of Baerbock for testifying to war

Baerbock also received criticism from Germany for her statement, including from Saxony's Prime Minister Kretschmer (CDU).

CSU General Secretary Martin Huber said: "Annalena Baerbock is a massive security risk for our country." Anyone who talks about German participation in the war is talking Germany into a war.

AfD co-boss Tino Chrupalla called for Baerbock's dismissal.

"The Federal Foreign Minister is jeopardizing Germany's existence with her unprofessional and cheeky behavior," he said, according to a statement.

There was also harsh criticism of Baerbock and her statements on social networks.

Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) had meanwhile answered on Wednesday evening on ZDF when asked whether Germany and its allies were not taking part in the war with the tank deliveries that had now been decided: "No, absolutely not." He added: "It must not be war between Russia and NATO.«

The federal government had previously promised Ukraine 14 Leopard 2 tanks from Bundeswehr stocks.

Other countries such as the USA had also announced that they would supply battle tanks to Kyiv.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) was criticized for hesitating on the battle tank issue.

aeh/dpa

Source: spiegel

All news articles on 2023-01-27

You may like

Trends 24h

Latest

© Communities 2019 - Privacy

The information on this site is from external sources that are not under our control.
The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.