German Armed Forces to “Rotate” on the Russian Border

Reuters

Originally appeared at DWN, transltaed by Karin exclusively for SouthFront

The German Armed Forces “at the request from outside” will station military units at the Russian border. But according to the Department of Defense, NATO soldiers will be “rotating”. This way, the impression could be given that Germany and NATO do not violate the NATO-Russia Founding Act. In this agreement it was determined that no troops will be “permanently” stationed at the border with the Russian Federation.

In recent years, NATO circumvented the 1997 signed Founding Act, by not stationing troops in the States of the former Warsaw Pact. Instead, civilian staff filled in new NATO infrastructures in the Baltic States and Poland.

Now the NATO countries will decide at their next summit in early July in Warsaw, to station troops at the Russian border – but not “permanently”. The German Chancellor has already verbally committed to US President Barack Obama its own contingent of German soldiers, reports the magazine Der Spiegel. Obama has consequently urged mainly to a contribution from Germany.

Although the planned quota should always remain the same, but the individual soldiers will “rotate”, it is stated from the German Ministry of Defense. The new plan of NATO to upgrade on the border with the Russian Federation is awkwardly reminiscent of a children’s song from the First World War. German children sang under the title “Hindenburg, the Russian Nightmare”:

“… And we want to rotate around him like the stars rotate. ”

Meanwhile, the Department of Defense also confirmed that there are “early discussions and votes within NATO” about these plans. Decisions would only be announced at the NATO summit in Warsaw in July. At the same time the German Federal government stated the “observance of the NATO-Russia Act” was important. That’s why German soldiers would “rotate”.

To justify further upgrade in accordance with NATO, the official version is that the Baltic States’ push for more protection. ” Germany therefore sends the soldiers officially at the request of NATO. The Western alliance will establish battalions in the three Baltic countries, Poland and Romania.

Germany is as a special partner within NATO responsible for Lithuania. Currently, the German Army is with up to 200 men already in the Baltic country in action. It is primarily to intensify military exercises.

Since several months NATO countries are conducting also regular maneuvers throughout Scandinavia and Eastern European countries. Currently there are 5,500 soldiers in maneuvers and for “educational purposes” in the eastern NATO states, reported N-TV.

The number of maneuvers, in which the German armed forces participated, increased compared to the previous year by about 25 percent, from 16 to 21. About monitoring of the airspace over the Baltic States, German fighter jets have mainly been involved in the second half of the 2015.