NATO MEMBERS PLEDGE TO DEFEND EVERY CENTIMETER OF ALLIANCE TERRITORY: GERMAN CHANCELLOR

Tue 07 June 2022:

Germany’s chancellor said Tuesday that NATO members are committed to defending every centimeter of the alliance’s territory.

Germany will boost its commitment to NATO’s eastern flank, according to Olaf Scholz.

“We will create a strong brigade, have discussed that with each other and will have to work on this,” Scholz said at a news conference alongside Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda, Latvian Prime Minister Krisjanis Karins and Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas.

Scholz said Germany’s decision to allocate a €100 billion ($107.3 billion) “special fund” to modernize its armed forces will further strengthen NATO and make the country “the strongest armed forces in Europe and one of the strongest in NATO.”

He said EU countries and Germany will continue to support Ukraine as long as it is necessary.

“Germany is one of the main supporters of Ukraine in terms of military, and probably only the United States provides greater support than us,” said Scholz.

Nauseda said the leaders discussed Russia’s war on Ukraine and Europe’s response.

“We must build a strong response and strengthen our defenses in the face of Russian aggression,” said Nauseda, adding “we agreed on the need to reinforce defense capabilities in the Baltic states by increasing the number of deployed troops, strengthening air and sea defense.”

“I believe that no one is under any illusion about Russia now. We must realize that Russia’s military threat is not going to go away. It will remain a long-term threat to the entire Euro-Atlantic area,” he added.

Germany hesitant to supply heavy weapons

“Sources close to the government say there is concern that Ukraine could become overconfident if it experiences a string of battlefield victories and rolls into Russian territory – which would mean that German tanks would once again be inside Russia,” reads the report.

Earlier, the German media outlet Welt am Sonntag reported that over the past nine weeks, the government of Olaf Scholz in Germany had minimized the supply of weapons to Ukraine.

Amid criticism of Scholz’s ambiguous position, the Bundestag on April 26 approved the supply of heavy weapons to Ukraine.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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