German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht, against the background of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, spoke in favor of tougher personal sanctions against the leadership in Moscow. “At the moment, we should focus on Putin and his entourage,” Lambrecht said in an interview with the weekly Bild am Sonntag, published on Sunday, December 19, ahead of her visit to Lithuania. Those responsible for the aggression must experience its consequences, for example, by losing the opportunity “to go shopping on the Champs Elysees in Paris,” she explained.
Recently, due to the increase in the number of Russian troops on the border with Ukraine, many politicians in Germany and in the European Union as a whole have expressed fears that this redeployment may turn out to be a preparation for the Russian invasion of the neighboring country. The countries of the “group of seven” (G7) and the EU have threatened Moscow that military aggression will entail “massive consequences.”
Earlier, the official representative of the US Department of Defense, John Kirby, answering journalists’ questions about possible plans to transfer additional NATO forces to the east, made it clear that the United States and its allies in the North Atlantic Alliance would be ready to discuss such a possibility, if requested.
The German weekly Der Spiegel reported on December 18 about a possible strengthening of NATO forces in Romania and Bulgaria.
Lambrecht – on the prospects for sending NATO soldiers to Ukraine
In turn, Christine Lambrecht reservedly assessed the prospects of sending NATO troops directly to Ukraine. “We should first exhaust all the possibilities of diplomacy and economic sanctions. All further steps also need to be discussed in close cooperation with our allies,” the German Defense Minister said, noting, however, that she “understands the fears of Ukrainians very well.”
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