German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht said in Vilnius on Saturday that NATO “must do more” against what she called the “delusions of grandeur” of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The German official made the remarks during a visit to Lithuania, where she inaugurated a command center on Friday that will allow the transfer of up to 5,000 soldiers, along with her Lithuanian counterpart, Arvydas Anusaukas.
“One thing is certain: due to the current situation, we have to do more together”Lambrecht added, stressing that no one can “know how far Putin’s delusions of grandeur can go,” reported German public television, DW.
“The brutal Russian war of aggression in Ukraine is becoming more and more brutal and unscrupulous… The Russian threat of nuclear weapons shows that the Russian authorities have no qualms about it”he added.
President Vladimir Putin and other Russian officials have alluded to Moscow’s nuclear capabilities on several occasions when they addressed the role of Western countries in their support of Ukraine.
The White House said it saw no reason to change the US nuclear strategy and said it had no indication that Russia was preparing to use its nuclear arsenal.
“We have no reason to change our strategic nuclear stance, nor do we have any indication that Russia is preparing to use nuclear weapons in the near term.” White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said.
This clarification comes a day after comments from President Joe Biden, who warned that the world faces the risk of a “nuclear apocalypse” for the first time since the Cold War.
In the statements of Vilnius, the German minister also reiterated Berlin’s determination to strengthen NATO’s eastern flank.
“We have heard the threats from Russia to Lithuania, which imposed European sanctions on the border with Kaliningrad. They are not the first threats, and we must take them seriously and be prepared,” she said, reinforcing: “We are on the right track. away side of our allies”.
Lithuania borders the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad and Belarus, an ally of Russia.
Germany sent its first troops to Lithuania in 2017 and agreed to expand its mission in Lithuania after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
On Friday, Lambrecht opened a permanent German command center in Lithuania.
At the time, he said the center would help move a NATO brigade, consisting of 3,500 to 5,000 troops, to Lithuania within 10 days, if necessary.
There are currently about 1600 NATO soldiers stationed in Lithuania.
“Lithuania’s security is Germany’s security. It is to this pledge of common security that we commit ourselves today,” Lambrecht said at the ceremony at the Rukla military base.
Source: DN
