Russia poses a growing military threat to Germany and its allies, German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius warned in remarks to parliament on Thursday.
“Russia has completely switched to a war economy and provides the army with 1,000 to 1,500 tanks every year. That’s about twice as many as the five largest European countries combined have in their inventory,” said Pistorius.
“For us, one thing is certain: Russia is the greatest threat to our security, and it will remain so for the foreseeable future,” he added.
Pistorius spoke in support of several pieces of defence legislation proposed by the German government.
One bill would provide better wages for German soldiers and civilian staff stationed in Lithuania as part of Germany’s new commitment to permanently deployment a brigade in the Baltic country in defence of NATO’s eastern flank.
Another proposal would make it illegal for former German soldiers to work for foreign powers such as Russia or China without explicit prior approval from the Defence Ministry.
“This has not been the case so far. The law is urgently needed,” Pistorius said on Thursday. “It will prevent highly specialized former members of the German armed forces from being recruited with lucrative offers for their own purposes.”
Florian Hahn, defence policy spokesman for the CDU/CSU conservative opposition bloc, accused Pistorius of lacking the courage and strength to stand up to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and his centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) on military matters.
“You have failed to order material for the new brigade in good time and are instead allowing existing units to be plundered in order to equip the brigade in Lithuania,” said Hahn.
“As a result, units in Germany, and in particular the 1st Armoured Division, are materially bare – almost three years after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.”
