Commander-in-Chief of the German Navy Kai-Achim Schönbach decided to leave his post after saying that Crimea would never return to Ukraine. The corresponding statement of the German commander-in-chief was posted on January 22 on the website press services Navy.
During a conference of the Indian Institute for Defense Studies, Manohar Parrikara, on January 21, Schoenbach said that the ownership of the Crimean peninsula by Russia is a “fact”.
The next day, Schönbach reported that he had asked him to be “immediately released” from his duties as commander-in-chief and inspector of the navy.
“Thoughtless comments made by me in India on security and military policy are increasingly falling on my office,” the commander-in-chief added.
According to him, this step will prevent damage from his words to the German Navy.
It was reported that German Defense Minister Christina Lambrecht and Inspector General of the Bundeswehr Eberhard Zorn discussed the situation. Lambrecht later granted Schönbach’s request for resignation.
On January 22, Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleg Nikolenko demanded that the German government publicly refute Schönbach’s statements.
The German Ministry of Defense reacted to Nikolenko’s statement, saying that the department does not share Schönbach’s position on Crimea.
As Senator Alexei Pushkov noted, the resignation of the head of the German Navy is an example of unacceptable thinking for a general or a “correct” politician from a NATO country. Schönbach went beyond the “red line”, and paid the price for this, the parliamentarian said.
Crimea returned to the Russian Federation following the results of the 2014 referendum. 96.77% of the inhabitants of the region and 95.6% of the voters of Sevastopol voted for joining. The leadership of the Russian Federation has repeatedly stated that the inhabitants of Crimea democratically voted for reunification in full accordance with international law, and the question of the ownership of the peninsula is finally closed.
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