German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius has drawn a stark comparison between Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine and Adolf Hitler’s annexation of Czechoslovak territory in 1938, Bloomberg reported.
Earlier, Estonian officials warned that NATO has about three to four years to strengthen its defenses in response to Russian President Vladimir Putin ramping up his country’s “war machine.” Estonia’s Foreign Intelligence Service also warned of a potential military confrontation between Russia and the West in the next decade, suggesting a counter build-up of armed forces as a deterrent. Additionally, other Western officials have cautioned of a Russian military threat to NATO’s eastern flank, urging Europe to bolster defenses, with the belief that Russia won’t stop in Ukraine.
Speaking at the presentation of a new biography of Britain’s wartime leader Winston Churchill on 11 April, Pistorius warned that “Putin will not stop once the war against Ukraine is over.” He said Putin had expressed this intent “just as clearly as Hitler, who also always said that he would not stop.”
Pistorius, who is a member of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democratic Party, told the audience that “faced with war, people elect a leader whom they trust and whom they follow, even though he presents the world in ugly terms,” referring to Churchill.
The defense minister, seen as a potential successor to Scholz, also called for Germany to loosen its borrowing restrictions to bolster the country’s military capabilities.
“We have to put this country back in a position where it can defend itself,” Pistorius said, referencing years of neglect of the Bundeswehr armed forces.
Pistorius urged Europe to prepare for the possibility of a large-scale Russian attack, stating:
“We have to decide now whether we want to prepare for a genuine threat from Putin to materialize or whether we want to make it easy for him.”
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