The German ambassador in Moscow has to go to the Foreign Ministry to hear protests against a naval base in Rostock. He uses this to criticize himself.
When summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry, German Ambassador Alexander Graf Lambsdorff rejected protests against the opening of a naval headquarters in Rostock. This is a permissible basis, Lambsdorff told the dpa news agency in Moscow.
“The transformation of the German maritime command staff in Rostock into the “Commander Task Force Baltic” is in line with the Two Plus Four Treaty,” he said. The headquarters will consist of both German soldiers and foreign exchange and liaison officers – as before.
“According to the Two Plus Four Treaty, the assignment of German armed forces units to NATO structures is also expressly permitted in the area of what was then the GDR and Berlin,” emphasized Lambsdorff. This is below the prohibition threshold of the treaty that was concluded in the course of German reunification.
Lambsdorff criticizes cooperation with North Korea in the ministry
According to his own statements, Ambassador Lambsdorff also addressed reports in the ministry about an alleged sending of soldiers from North Korea to Russia. If these reports are true, he said he “strongly condemns” this further military cooperation between Russia and North Korea.
In addition, according to his own account, he protested on the occasion “again against the completely unjustified classification of the German Society for Eastern European Studies (DGO) as an “extremist organization””. He therefore called on Russia to reverse this as quickly as possible.
Protest also against action against the Eastern Europe Organization
According to Lambsdorff, the German side made it clear in a verbal note that the DGO has been one of the most important organizations in Eastern European studies for many decades. “The DGO made a significant contribution to creating the foundations in Germany for the policy of understanding with the Soviet Union and for long-standing good-neighbourly relations with its successor states,” said the diplomat.
The Russian Foreign Ministry had previously reported on the summons of the ambassador and complained about a violation of the Two Plus Four Treaty. The treaty prohibits NATO troops from being stationed in East Germany. Federal Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD), however, also emphasized on Monday at the opening of the headquarters that no applicable contracts would be violated.
Source: Stern
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