- The head of the German Navy, Kay-Achim Schönbach, is resigning from his post after controversial statements on the Ukraine conflict.
- The German Ministry of Defense announced this on Saturday evening, according to the German Press Agency.
- At an event in India, Schönbach had expressed understanding for Russian President Vladimir Putin and said, among other things, that the Crimean peninsula, annexed by Russia, would never return to Ukraine.
Literally, Schönbach said: “The Crimean peninsula is gone, it will not come back.” In 2014, Russia annexed the Ukrainian Black Sea peninsula of Crimea. Since then, rebels supported by Moscow have been fighting the pro-Western government in Kiev in the east of the country. With a massive Russian troop deployment near Ukraine, there are fears in the West that the Kremlin may be planning an invasion of the neighboring country. Schönbach said that Russia wants to appropriate Ukrainian territory is “nonsense”.
Legend:
Kay-Achim Schönbach made the controversial statements during a performance in India.
key stone
“In terms of content and choice of words, the statements in no way correspond to the position of the Federal Ministry of Defense,” said a spokesman for the Ministry of Defense of the German Press Agency. Schönbach himself reported on Saturday via his official Twitter account: He described his statement as a “clear mistake” and as “imprudent, misjudged the situation”.