Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday called Germany’s plans to build the “strongest” army in Europe a “very worrying” development.
“Many were immediately reminded of the last century, when Germany twice became the leading military power, and how much trouble that caused,” Lavrov said at a security conference in Moscow.
Germany, long reluctant to ramp up military spending since World War II, has shifted course in recent years, emerging as one of Ukraine’s most steadfast backers.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has also pledged to provide “all financial means necessary” to modernize Germany’s long-underfunded armed forces.
Berlin recently stationed a 5,000-strong armored brigade in Lithuania, making it the country’s first permanent foreign troop deployment since the end of WWII.
The Kremlin has frequently invoked the Soviet Union’s fight against Nazi Germany to rally domestic support for its invasion of Ukraine, portraying the conflict as a continuation of that historical struggle.
Russia and Germany had maintained relatively stable ties before the 2022 invasion, but Berlin has since become one of Kyiv’s main military and political supporters, a position Merz has vowed to uphold.
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