Is a new arms race between NATO and Russia looming? Moscow is responding to the alliance’s intention to rearm in Germany with plans to revise its nuclear doctrine.
The Chancellor, Vice Chancellor and Defense Minister of the traffic light government agree: stationing long-range US weapons in Germany is an effective contribution to deterring Russian aggression.
Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) told the ZDF’s “heute journal” at the NATO summit in Washington: “We have a new threat situation. Vladimir Putin has shown what he is willing and able to do.”
The minister told ARD’s “Tagesthemen” that there could be no talk of a new arms race. “Russia has been stationing these weapons systems for some time now, among other places – as we suspect – in Kaliningrad, which means within absolute range of Germany and other European nations.”
Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) and his deputy Robert Habeck (Greens) also see the need for rearmament. “We know that there has been an incredible rearmament in Russia, with weapons that threaten European territory,” said Scholz at the summit marking NATO’s 75th anniversary.
Habeck told the newspaper “Neue Westfälische” (Friday edition) that Russian rearmament “obviously also threatens NATO’s eastern flank”. “So Russia is not a peace partner at the moment.”
Russia – and China too – are strongly criticizing the plans and are showing unity in doing so. Russia’s Foreign Ministry threatened a military response. China rejected the alliance’s accusation that it was supporting Russian President Vladimir Putin in his war of aggression against Ukraine. The statement from NATO’s anniversary summit on China was full of war rhetoric, slander and provocations.
The leadership in Moscow also had harsh words for the political and military decisions of the alliance’s heads of government regarding Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was promised support, which should one day lead to NATO membership. With regard to China, representatives from Indo-Pacific states also took part in the discussions.
Scholz: US decision fits into our strategy
Scholz said that they had long discussed how to respond to Russia’s rearmament with conventional deterrence in addition to NATO’s nuclear shield. The stationing of long-range weapons was already laid down a year ago in the Federal Republic’s first National Security Strategy. “That is why the United States’ decision fits exactly into this strategy, which we have been discussing publicly for a long time.”
For the first time since the Cold War, the USA wants to station weapons systems in Germany that reach as far as Russia. The White House and the German government announced this on Wednesday.
Moscow is about 1,600 kilometers as the crow flies from Berlin. From 2026, Tomahawk cruise missiles with a range of up to 2,500 kilometers, SM-6 anti-aircraft missiles and newly developed supersonic weapons will provide better protection for NATO allies in Europe.
The decision brings back memories of the Cold War. Scholz himself protested as a young Social Democrat in the early 1980s against the NATO double-track decision, which, among other things, provided for the stationing of medium-range Pershing II missiles, which were withdrawn after the end of the Cold War by 1991.
Lots of money for Ukraine – path to accession irreversible
In the summit declaration, Ukraine is promised that it will receive military aid worth at least 40 billion euros again within the next year. This is roughly the amount that was mobilized last year. There is a compromise on the controversial issue of NATO accession prospects. The alliance assures Ukraine that it can no longer be stopped on its way to joining the defense alliance.
Moscow: NATO plans “link in the escalation course”
Moscow was clear about the planned stationing of weapons systems in Germany. Russian security would be compromised by the US weapons, said Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, according to the state news agency Tass. It was “a link in the escalation course” of NATO and the USA towards Russia.
“We are well on our way to a Cold War. All of this has happened before,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russian state television. He accused Germany, the USA, France and Great Britain of being directly involved in the conflict over Ukraine. “And all the features of the Cold War are returning – with confrontation, with direct conflict between opponents.”
Russia revises nuclear doctrine
The Kremlin called NATO’s decisions on Ukraine a threat to its own security. The decision to admit Ukraine into the alliance sooner or later makes clear the alliance’s main goal of keeping Russia in check, Peskov said. He confirmed that work was underway on changes to the nuclear doctrine. The current guiding principle is that Russia may only use nuclear weapons in response to a nuclear attack or an existential threat to the country in the event of a conventional attack.
US election campaign at the summit: How will Joe Biden fare in the end?
US President Joe Biden was under constant observation at the NATO meeting after he had sown doubts about his mental and physical fitness during a TV debate against Trump at the end of June. Biden got through the first two days as host almost without a hitch. But Biden usually doesn’t make the biggest mistakes when he reads speeches from the teleprompter. It will be difficult for the 81-year-old when he speaks off the cuff. Therefore, the real test for the US President is still to come: on Friday night he wants to hold a press conference at the end of the NATO summit.
NATO summit website
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
