Crisis The head of the German Navy resigns after a controversial statement on Ukraine
Interview Albares: "We are committed to dialogue in Ukraine, but we are prepared for any eventuality"
The tensions between Russia and Ukraine have made the head of the head of the Navy, Vice Admiral
Kay-Achim Schönbach
, roll in Germany . The 56-year-old soldier was dismissed on Saturday night at his own request, given the harsh reactions in Kiev to his statements at a forum of military experts in India.
Schönbach's crime has been to speak his mind in a debate with colleagues organized by a think tank in Delhi, which was recorded and then posted on the internet.
In that exchange of views,
Schönbach stated that Ukraine does not meet the conditions to join NATO
, showed understanding for the actions of Russian President Vladimir Putin, and considered the annexation of Crimea a fait accompli.
"The Crimean peninsula is gone, it will not come back,"
he opined.
From Schönbach's point of view, the fact that Russia wants to appropriate the Ukrainian territory is "nonsense", what Putin wants in this conflict is to be respected.
"What he really wants is respect on an equal footing. And, my God, showing respect to someone costs almost nothing, it costs nothing because it
is easy to give him the respect that he demands, and he probably deserves it
, "he pointed out.
The Vice Admiral said that for Putin, the greatest threat is not in the West but in China and argued that it is a shared fear.
"We, India, Germany,
we need Russia because we need Russia against China
. Russia is a Christian country. Putin is an atheist, but that doesn't matter," he said.
Schönbach's views reached the Ukraine in the form of straws. The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry urgently summoned the ambassador,
Anka Feldhusen
, to discuss the "unacceptability of the Schönbach statements, about the fact that Crimea will never return to Ukraine and that our state will not meet the membership criteria for the NATO," according to the ministry's letter.
The Ukrainian ambassador in Berlin,
Andriy Melnyk
, took it upon himself to raise the tone against the German officer and against Germany itself.
It even went back to the Nazi era.
"With this condescending attitude,
the Ukrainians have unconsciously recalled the horrors of the Nazi occupation
, when the Ukrainians were treated as subhuman," he declared.
The head of the Navy tried to calm the situation with messages of apology on Twitter for statements that he said had been made in a personal capacity and that
"in no way" was the official position of the German government
.
But the machinery had already been set in motion.
The German Defense Ministry issued a statement stressing that "in terms of content and choice of words, the (Vice Admiral's) statements in no way correspond to the position of the Federal Ministry of Defence."
Shortly after, the Navy released another from the Vice Admiral: "I have just asked the Federal Minister of Defense to release me from my duties and duties as a Navy inspector with immediate effect.
My thoughtless statements on security made in India and military policy weigh every again in my office"
.
Schönbach's request was accepted by Defense Minister
Christine Lambrecht
, in order to avoid, as the military officer requested, further damage from the German Navy, the Bundeswehr (Armed Forces), but above all from the Federal Republic of Germany." Rear Admiral
Jan Christian Kaack
, Schönbach's deputy, will take his place for the time being.
The removal of the Vice Admiral has been well received in the political arena. According to the president of the Parliamentary Defense Committee,
Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann
, of the liberal party, "Vice Admiral Schönbach openly questions the European security structure and international law.
His resignation is logical"
. The defense expert of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU),
Henning Otte
, shares this opinion. "Anyone who demands respect for Putin in this dramatic situation is obviously subject to an incorrect assessment of the situation." In his opinion,
the relief of functions was "inevitable."
To the Ukrainian diplomacy, however, the resignation of the head of the Navy does not seem insufficient.
"This scandal leaves chaos in its wake and has cast doubt on Germany's international credibility and reliability.
The Ukrainian public is deeply shocked
," says its ambassador to Germany.
And in case the dagger to the country that has accepted his credentials had not gone deep, the diplomat described Schönbach's opinions as "the dream of one of the highest-ranking chiefs of the Bundeswehr with a holy alliance with the criminal of Putin war and with a modern German-Russian crusade against China".
In his opinion, "the cynical trivialization of the illegal occupation of Crimea and a questioning of Ukraine's sovereignty, the statements of the resigned Navy chief
show German arrogance and megalomania."
The resignation of the head of the Navy does not heal the wounds that his words apparently opened in Ukraine.
And the cut is deeper.
It is the German refusal to supply weapons to Ukraine because it is a conflict zone
.
That, in addition to the Vice Admiral's statements, was what the Ministry of Foreign Affairs spoke with the German ambassador when calling her for consultations.
The message that Kiev conveyed to the diplomat was "the deep disappointment" of the Ukrainian people for that refusal.
Schönbach's visit to India came as part of the frigate Bayern's voyage to the Indo-Pacific, the first time in almost 20 years that a German warship has sailed the region and visited partner countries.
Lambert's predecessor at the Defense Ministry,
Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer
(CDU) wanted Germany to show a stronger military presence in the Indo-Pacific and close ranks against China, which is omnipresent in the region.
The German frigate is already back and is expected to make port in February.
By then, the Navy will have a new chief and Ukraine will still be without German weapons.
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