According to the German news agency dpap and Russia Today TV (RT) on March 5, former NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen was dissatisfied with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz's "too hesitation" on the issue of providing military aid to Ukraine, claiming that he "does not look like a leader" and that Germany needs a new **.
In an interview published by the Swiss "Neue Zürcher Zeitung** on the 4th, Rasmussen said when talking about the Russia-Ukraine conflict, "We need national leaders who take decisive action ......."In times of war, you can't lead by following the will of the people. We need a more decisive Germany**. Chancellor Scholz was too slow and too hesitant. He doesn't look like a leader. ”
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz Source: Visual China.
According to the German news agency dpa, Scholz has refused to supply Ukraine with Taurus long-range cruise missiles for months, fearing that such missiles could be used to strike targets inside Russia, further exacerbating the conflict. But there has been pressure from within Germany to change this position.
In the interview, Rasmussen claimed that this is another reason why Germany's financial support for Ukraine, although it is second only to the United States, is not fully "recognized". He also said that Scholz should take more proactive action, "I don't understand why Germany does not supply Taurus missiles".
The former NATO secretary general also said that European countries "must turn to a war economy" and provide Ukraine with all the ** it needs. In addition, he advocated inviting Ukraine to join NATO as soon as possible, saying that he did not know if that would happen at the NATO summit in July, but that he "wanted to refute the idea that it would not be possible to start the process of joining NATO as long as Ukraine remains at war." He claimed that such a view would send the wrong signal to Russia.
In November last year, Rasmussen suggested that Ukraine "partially join the treaty" and exclude the Russian-occupied territories in the south and east as a way to "prevent Russia from launching attacks on Ukrainian territory within NATO, thereby freeing up Ukrainian troops to go to the front line," the RT report said. However, the Ukrainian side rejected this idea, ruling out any compromise on "the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine."
Rasmussen served as Danish prime minister from 2001 to 2009 and NATO secretary general from 2009 to 2014, according to the report. Currently, he is co-chair of the Working Group on Security and Euro-Atlantic Integration in Ukraine.