A German MP has called on her country to activate some “900,000 reservists” as she believes Russia‘s “attack against us has already begun”.
Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, an MP of the liberal FDP party and the chair of the Defence Committee at the Bundestag, said Moscow is completely on a war footing, and it is time for Germany to prepare to face any threat from the east.
She told the newspapers of the Funke Media Group: “Putin is preparing his people for war and positioning them against the West. We must therefore become capable of defending ourselves as quickly as possible.”
Russia, she went on to claim, “only produces weapons” and the school books it prints “portray Germany as the aggressor”.
Calling for the activation of Germany’s reservists, she said: “If we could recruit just half of them with their corresponding expertise as reservists, that would be an incredible asset.”
Ms Strack-Zimmermann said her country counts “roughly 900,000 reservists”, although she added the German Armed Forces, Bundeswehr, hasn’t registered soldiers who retired from active service for decades.
All former military service members and soldiers who have served for an extended period of time are considered reservists in Germany, with the exception of ex-service people previously in the East Germany’s armed forces who never joined the Bundeswehr following the country’s unification.
The MP added the Russian attack against Germany “has already begun”, referring to the hybrid warfare Russia has been accused of waging against various European nations, with tactics including cyber attacks and manipulating the refugee crisis.
Speaking about the war in Ukraine, Ms Strack-Zimmermann added Putin would “continue his raids” if he is allowed to win and target other nations.
The MP set alarm bells ringing a few weeks after the chairman of the German Reservists Association, Patrick Sensburg, proposed to systematically record the health status and availability of former soldiers and allow them to train again.
Earlier this year, as fears Russia would not stop at Ukraine spread, Germany pledged for the first time to meet the 2 percent target of military spending set for all NATO members.