Lgermany’s plan to strengthen its army has been widely criticized by the Russian Foreign Ministry, believing that this amounts to “remilitarization”, in reference to the Nazi period (1933-1945). The government and the conservative opposition in Germany reached an agreement at the end of May to break the budgetary rules of the national Constitution, in order to release 100 billion euros to modernize the German forces in the face of the Russian threat.
“We take this as further confirmation that Berlin has taken the path of further remilitarization. We know how it can end, ”said the spokeswoman for Russian diplomacy, Maria Zakharova. This seems to refer to the rearmament of Germany by the Nazis in the 1930s, which was followed by the dictator Adolf Hitler’s outbreak of World War II (1939-1945).
A 100 billion euro project
The release of 100 billion euros for the national army constitutes a major reversal for Germany which, in recent years, has been dragging its feet to comply with NATO commitments in this area, regularly attracting the wrath the United States.
Germany, since the end of the Cold War, has significantly reduced the size of its army, from around 500,000 people when the country was reunified in 1990 to just 200,000 today. In addition, military officials regularly complain of breakdowns in their fighter planes, warships or tanks. The Russian offensive in Ukraine has acted as an electric shock in a country steeped in pacifism since the horrors of the Nazis.
