Russian MoD Summons German Military Attache Over Remarks on Nuclear Deterrence of Moscow

"Today, on October 25, the defence attache at the embassy of Germany in Russia was invited to the Main Directorate of International Military Cooperation of the Russian Ministry of Defence. During the meeting, attention was drawn to the statements of German Defence Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer on Russia's nuclear deterrence and a note was handed over," the ministry said.

The German defence attache was told that "such statements provoke an increase in tensions in Europe and do not contribute to the normalization of the situation."

The remarks by the Russian Defence Ministry followed Kramp-Karrenbauer’s Friday interview on German radio, in which she said that NATO needs to “make it very clear to Russia” that its “deterrence doctrine” means using any means the bloc may deem necessary to prevent Moscow from attacking NATO's partners or allies. The German defence minister also noted that nuclear weapons are "the way of deterrence.”

Reiterating Moscow's concerns over NATO's push to amass troops near Russia’s borders, Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu earlier warned that his German counterpart needs to "know well how this ended for Germany and Europe in the past".

Earlier in October, Russia suspended the operations of NATO’s information office in Moscow, along with the work of Russia's own permanent mission to the bloc. The decision followed the alliance's move to revoke the accreditation of eight employees of the Russian mission to NATO.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov noted last week that Moscow believes that the alliance should be the first to take steps to improve the bilateral relations, "as we have never initiated the degradation of relations either with NATO or with the European Union or with any country in the West or any other region".