The Minister of defence of Germany Annegret Kramp-of Karrenbauer said that NATO must develop a common understanding of the threat posed by Russia.
"the Question of how we perceive Russia as we assess the behavior of Russia is the decisive question. It is a huge challenge in Europe and in NATO. There is a big difference – if you are German and live in Germany and you’re in a good situation, surrounded by friends, or you are a country that has a common border with Russia or you countries like the Nordic, Baltic and Eastern European countries that on a daily basis see a violation from the Russian side," she said, speaking via video link to the discussion on the site of the American analytical center Atlantic Council.
"There is a difference, if you see a violation of your airspace, what we see in these places every day in your territorial waters. There is a difference, if you have to deal with hacker attacks, or disinformation campaigns, for example, the German Bundestag was under attack a few years ago," the Minister added.
According to her, all this makes an important goal is "working on strategic compass".
"the First and most important step towards a common strategic understanding – is to make it so that we had a coordinated and coherent idea about the perception of threat from Russia. Russia is an important partner, an important neighbor, the people there are wonderful, but we see the aggressive, asserting itself from the policy of the Russian leadership. What we are experiencing is that the historic Russian sphere of influence was supposed to be fixed again. Russia did it in the East of Ukraine, in the Crimea, Russia does not respect the right of other countries to self-determination," said crump, Karrenbauer.
"Russia must clearly understand that we are in Europe and NATO are strong, we are consistent in our actions, we want to work seriously on the threat posed by Russia. Therefore, the concept of deterrence is as relevant", – said the Minister.
According to her, Europe and NATO, "still need it (deterrence)".
"At the same time, we want Russia returned to the negotiating table to have, for example, the actual disarmament," said crump, Karrenbauer.
Relations between Russia and the West deteriorated in connection with the situation in Ukraine and around the Crimea, which reunited with Russia after a referendum on the Peninsula. The West is accusing Russia of meddling, have imposed sanctions, Moscow responded, took a course on import substitution and has repeatedly said that talking with her in language of sanctions counterproductive. Russia has repeatedly stated that it is not a party to the conflict in Ukraine and the subject of the Minsk agreements orego��iravani. Lately in Europe more and more sound views on the need for the lifting of sanctions against Russia.
Crimea became a Russian region after held there in March 2014 referendum in which 96.77% of voters of the Republic of Crimea and 95.6% of residents of Sevastopol voted for joining Russia. The Russian leadership has repeatedly stated that the inhabitants of Crimea democratically in full compliance with international law and the UN Charter voted for reunification with Russia. According to Russian President Vladimir Putin, Crimea "permanently closed".
Federal prosecutors in Germany in may issued an international warrant for the arrest of the citizen of the Russian Federation Dmitry Badin, who is suspected of involvement in the hacker attack on the Bundestag in 2015. Badin is also wanted by the FBI, us investigators it is referred to the group of seven Russians suspected of cyberwoman, the FBI believes that he is an employee of the Russian military intelligence GRU.
The official representative of Russian foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova said that Moscow strongly denies accusations of Russia’s involvement in the hacker attack on the Bundestag in 2015. The Minister of foreign Affairs of Russia Sergey Lavrov said that Berlin has not provided evidence of Moscow’s involvement in the hacker attack.
