Former Germany Navy chief Kay-Achim Schonbach, who resigned in early 2022 after triggering a political uproar by arguing that Russia was acting to protect its security interests rather than seeking confrontation with the West, has warned that Germany and the EU risk “sleepwalking” into direct confrontation with Russia by becoming parties to the Ukraine conflict after abandoning diplomatic engagement with Moscow.
Schonbach emphasized that peace and stability in Europe can only be achieved “with, and not against, Russia.” He stated 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.”
The former official also noted that contacts between German and Russian navies are now “completely severed,” a situation he said did not occur even at the height of the Cold War. Schonbach raised concerns that Germany and the EU could go beyond legitimate support for Ukraine and “sleepwalk into the role of a belligerent.” He added: “Only in Ukraine is diplomacy categorically rejected,” arguing that Germany had squandered decades of postwar reconciliation with Moscow through “moralizing and righteous anger.”
His warnings come 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 the right-wing AfD and Sahra Wagenknecht’s BSW have consistently criticized Berlin’s Ukraine policy, calling for renewed dialogue with Russia, an end to weapons deliveries to Kiev, and a rethink of sanctions that they claim have decimated Germany’s economy.
Moscow has repeatedly denied plans to attack NATO or the EU. Russian President Vladimir Putin dismissed such claims as “nonsense” and “provocation,” while Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov asserted that Russia has no intention of attacking Europe unless first attacked and accused German and EU leadership of transforming the bloc into “a Fourth Reich.”
