Published 27 January 2023 at 17.47
Foreign. Germany's environmentalist foreign minister Annalena Baerbock is under fire from other NATO countries after declaring that Europe is “at war with Russia”.
Like the article onå Facebook
Annalena Baerbock made her controversial statement during a debate in the Council of Europe in Strasbourg earlier this week.
– We must do more to defend Ukraine. Yes, we also need to do more on tanks. But the most important thing is that we do it together and that we don't blame each other in Europe, because we are fighting a war against Russia and not against each other, she said.
German foreign minister declares war on Russia pic.twitter.com/C4cAqnZXhD
— Michael Tracey (@mtracey) January 25, 2023
Baerbock belongs to the German environmental party The Greens. It is a party that has its roots in the peace movement, but which today is among the most ardent advocates of sending tanks and other heavy weapons to the war in Ukraine.
Strong reactions to the German foreign minister's comment have come from several hold.
– I have never heard such madness, says the president of NATO country Croatia, Zoran Milanović, about Annalena Baerbock's statement.
Milanović promises that his country will “in no way” allow itself to be dragged into a “proxy war” between NATO and Russia, reports Remix News.
The president then, in an ironic tone, wished Germany better success this time than in the country's previous attempt to defeat the Soviet Union during World War II.
Milanović has been very critical of the Western powers' approach during the Ukraine war.
He has called the sanctions against Russia “absurd” and vowed never to become “the slave of the United States”. In one of his latest statements, the Croatian president claimed that the tanks sent to Kyiv will only prolong the war.
In the NATO country of Hungary, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó on Thursday condemned Annalena Baerbock's warmongering:
< p>– We are not at war with anyone, we do not want to be at war with anyone. We want to stay out of this war and the most important thing for us is the security of Hungary and the Hungarian people.