Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has accused German Chancellor Friedrich Merz of using anti-Russian slogans reminiscent of Nazi times to militarize Germany.
He said it was "complete nonsense" to label Russia as a threat, speaking in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur. "I hope that every politician with common sense understands this," Lavrov said.
He claimed that Merz had chosen a course of militarizing Germany and criticized the German chancellor for no longer seeing the "means of diplomacy" being open towards Moscow.
"If Mr Merz believes that peaceful options are exhausted, he must have decided to devote himself entirely to the militarization of Germany at the expense of his people, only to then harp on Nazi slogans – to counter the threats emanating from Russia," Lavrov said.
He made these remarks at a press conference during the meeting of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) foreign ministers.
Merz's statements on Russia repeatedly provoke sharp reactions in Moscow, and he often faces comparisons to the Nazis. Moscow accuses the chancellor of increasingly relying on a military solution to the Ukraine conflict and drawing Germany further into the war.
Regarding the Russian war against Ukraine, Merz said in the lower house of parliament, or Bundestag, in Berlin on Wednesday: "The means of diplomacy are exhausted when a criminal regime openly questions the right of an entire country to exist with military force and sets out to destroy the political freedom order of the entire European continent."
Russia has been waging a destructive war against Ukraine for more than three years. According to its own statements, Moscow wants to prevent Kyiv accession to NATO, as this would be a threat to Russia's security. In addition, Russia also makes large territorial claims against its neighbour.
