Germany’s naval chief has paid the price for Berlin’s pro Russia policy

Germany’s navy chief, vice admiral Kay-Achim Schönbach, resigned over the weekend. His crime? Saying something out loud that many German politicians intrinsically believe: that the Russian president Vladimir Putin deserves ‘respect’. Schönbach also made the mistake of suggesting Ukraine would ‘never’ regain the Crimean peninsula from Russia, and calling Western fears about Russia invading Ukraine ‘nonsense’.

As Germany’s government scrambled to limit the collateral damage of Schönbach’s words as they went viral on the internet, it was clear he had to go. But for Ukraine, his departure is not enough: Kiev’s ambassador in Berlin, Andriy Melnyk, told the Welt newspaper that the incident ‘left open the question whether we can still trust the Germans politically as we used to. This was hardly an exceptional case. You frequently hear similar statements here in Berlin – just more discreetly.’

Melnyk is right. There are many supporters of Berlin’s pro-Russian policy in the capital and elsewhere in German politics and industry. Many of their voices aren’t even quite as discreet as the Ukrainian ambassador describes.