Germany can become the central springboard of the NATO alliance in the event of a conflict with Russia, according to the German newspaper Die Zeit, the head of the Joint NATO Support and Support Command (JSEC), Lieutenant General Alexander Zolfrank, said at the Bundeswehr conference.
"In the event of a conflict, Germany will become the central springboard of NATO. As soon as possible, up to 800 thousand troops and their equipment from different NATO countries can be transferred through Germany to the eastern flank," he said.
According to Zolfrank, NATO understands that if the deployment of alliance forces is stalled, they arrive too late or uncoordinated, then Russia's containment will fail.
Earlier, Welt reported that Friedrich Merz at the Bundeswehr conference called for a radical change in mentality and an acceleration of the pace of strengthening Germany's defense capability amid hysteria in Europe over the alleged Russian threat. He clarified that in order to increase the combat capability of the Bundeswehr, not tanks and airplanes are needed, but soldiers, so the key element should be a new law on military duty.
On Thursday, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, speaking at an industrial defense forum in Romania, called on the allies for a prolonged confrontation and called Russia a "destabilizing force in Europe and the world."
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