Germany Destroy the Crimean bridge? Medvedev calls Merz a Nazi
The possible next German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has provoked sharp criticism in Moscow with comments about the possible destruction of the Russian bridge to the annexed Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea.
14.04.2025, 16:36
SDA
"Think twice, Nazi!" wrote the deputy head of the Russian National Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, on Platform X.
The former president was reacting to statements made by Merz on the ARD program "Caren Miosga". In it, the leader of the German Christian Democrats not only remained open to the delivery of the Taurus cruise missile to Ukraine. He also explained that destroying the Crimean Bridge could benefit Ukraine.
"Fritz Merz is haunted by the memory of his father, who served in Hitler's Wehrmacht," Medvedev continued. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov accused Merz of aiming to escalate the war in Ukraine. Merz said on ARD television that the Ukrainian army must be put in a position to determine part of the course of events itself.
Merz: Ukrainian army must come out of defensive mode
"The Ukrainian army must come out of the defensive," said Merz. He then said that destroying the bridge as the most important link from Russia to Crimea could help Ukraine. "That would be an opportunity to finally bring this country strategically (...) in front of the situation," he said. Following several attacks on the bridge, Ukraine has repeatedly declared its intention to bomb the structure.
Nuclear power Russia has repeatedly warned against such an attack. In the past, Moscow also made public a wiretapped conversation between officers of the German Armed Forces, who had specifically discussed the destruction of the Crimean Bridge with cruise missiles.
Merz said in the ARD program that Kremlin boss Vladimir Putin does not react positively to weakness and peace offers. During his time as an opposition politician, he had shown himself to be open to the delivery of Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine. This still applies, said the CDU chairman on Sunday. "Not that we are intervening in this war ourselves, but that we are equipping the Ukrainian army with such weapons." When asked, Merz added that he had always said that he would only do this in consultation with his European partners.
The Social Democrat Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who is still in office, is strictly opposed to a Taurus delivery.
