Donald Trump at the NATO summit: "Germany is the prisoner of Russia". The reaction of the Germans



[ad_1]

  Donald Trump and Angela Merkel
<! – Donald Trump and Angela Merkel ->


According to Trump, Germany is "fully ruled by Russia" at the beginning of the NATO summit in Brussels, according to AFP, Reuters and DPA, according to Agerpres. "Due to its agreement with Moscow on the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline.

The US President also urged Germany to increase its defense budget without delay, arguing that it is of a "rich country. "

"Germany is the Russian prisoner because she gets a lot of her energy from Russia," said Mr. Trump at a breakfast with the secretary general of the NATO, Mr Jesn Stoltenberg, before the official opening of the summit. The Germans "pay billions and billions of dollars to Russia when we have to defend Russia … This is not normal," Trump says.

Read and


Donald Trump threatens to ask NATO countries to repay "arrears"

At the same time, according to the leader of the White House, "the US pays a lot of money. money to defend France, Germany and everyone else. "

"Germany is a rich country, it could immediately increase tomorrow's defense spending and it would not be a problem," Trump added, repeatedly criticizing the US's allies. NATO for failing to make sufficient efforts to reach 2% of defense GDP.

Germany is not a prisoner of Russian politics, said German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen in response to US President Donald's accusation Trump Germany is "totally under control" of Moscow, according to Agerpres.

"We have a lot of problems with Russia without a doubt," Von der Leyen said on the sidelines of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Wednesday and Thursday in Brussels. "On the other hand, you have to maintain open channels of communication between countries or alliances and opponents," she said in English

German Chancellor Angela Merkel recently said that she had the intention of increasing defense spending, without mentioning whether the 2% goal would be achieved. Initial figures indicate an increase of 1.5%

Germany approved at the end of March the construction and operation of the Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline, the submarine pipeline that would transport natural gas between the Russia and Germany, construction work to be completed in 2018. The project, estimated at 9.5 billion euros, will lead to an increase in natural gas deliveries from Russia directly to Germany. , but the EU member states of Eastern Europe, Poland and the Baltic states that the EU dependence on the Russian gas giant Gazprom , which already supplies about one third of EU gas imports, would increase.

In 2014, the United States and the EU imposed economic and financial sanctions on Russia for the crisis in Ukraine



  Donald Trump and Angela Merkel
<! – Donald Trump and Angela Merkel ->

Seymour Hersh, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist

[ad_2]
Source link