Huge fuss about a push by CDU leader Friedrich Merz (66, CDU) for a possible NATO mission in Ukraine!
He thinks NATO intervention is possible if there are targeted attacks on reactor blocks, Merz told NDR Info. “There may be a situation in which NATO then also has to make decisions to stop Putin.”
With his statement, Merz referred to the Russian attack on the Ukrainian nuclear power plant Zaporizhia.
“If something like this should happen again, if even the reactor blocks should possibly be hit, then we are directly threatened by the effects of this war.”
Merz continued: “That would then be a new level of escalation, in which NATO would then have to consider whether this does not also represent an attack on its own territory. But thank God we haven’t gotten that far yet.”
Objection came from party friend Tobias Hans (44, CDU), who, as acting Prime Minister, is currently in the state election campaign in Saarland.
“That’s not the point at the moment,” said Hans on the sidelines of the two-day CDU board meeting in St. Ingbert, Saarland.
Internally, Merz tried to put his statements into perspective during the day. The red line is an attack on NATO territory. In this case, NATO must and will react, Merz said internally according to BILD information.
That is, however, a broad consensus within NATO.
Neither NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg (62) nor Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (40) took up the Merz initiative.
During the exam, Merz wrote an “open letter to the Germans from Russia and Russian citizens in Germany. When he thinks of Russia, it says, “then I think of the works of Tchaikovsky, of the great national poet Pushkin and of the cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin; I think of the white nights of St. Petersburg, the pulsating metropolis of Moscow and the vastness of this extraordinary and powerful country. I think of ballet, chess and ice hockey, of the unique and world-renowned hospitality of these people.”
Czaja: Must act together against “attacks and bullying (…)”
In the letter, Merz also tries to draw a line between the intertwined history between the two peoples: “Russian and German history have been closely intertwined for centuries. We know about the great achievements, but also about the endless suffering and bloodshed. Last year we commemorated the 80th anniversary of the German invasion, the beginning of the war of annihilation and exploitation against the peoples of the Soviet Union. We Germans are grateful for the liberation from National Socialism, and we know who paid a particularly high price in blood for it. All the greater is the miracle of reconciliation between our nations.
Given this shared history, it is all the more incredible that President Vladimir Putin launched a war of aggression against Ukraine in the heart of Europe, the likes of which our continent has not seen since 1945. To put it bluntly: the Russian people are not responsible for this illegal war, for the suffering and death on both sides. Vladimir Putin alone bears this responsibility. Nevertheless, both Germans from Russia and Russian citizens living in Germany are currently being subjected to unjustified hostility.”
► CDU General Secretary Mario Czaja (46) had previously given a clear rejection of “Russian hostility”. “We have to act together against attacks and bullying,” says Czaja. “Our enemy is not the Russian people, but Putin’s war.”
In his letter, Merz also points out the consequences of the war in Ukraine. “The war is devastating for Ukraine and for Russia, for Europe and for the whole world. As the Christian Democratic Union, we have a responsibility to do everything in our power to stop this war. For us, this also includes making political decisions that can be painful for everyone involved.
Our enemy is not the Russian people, nor are they the people who feel close and connected to them. I know that understanding, peace and reconciliation are also important to you. And I know that the current situation is difficult for you too.”