Germany slams Russia over Merz kidnapping comments

Berlin on Monday sharply rejected comments by Russia's former president Dmitry Medvedev, who has suggested German leader Friedrich Merz might be abducted in an operation similar to the US capture of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro.

"We condemn such threats in the strongest possible terms," said deputy government spokesman Sebastian Hille in Berlin.

The government does not see the need to increase Merz's security, the spokesman said, adding that the officers in charge of keeping the chancellor safe were "among the best in the world."

Medvedev on Sunday said he could envisage abduction operations against other world leaders similar to the US action in Venezuela, naming German Chancellor Friedrich Merz among them.

"The kidnapping of the neo-Nazi Merz could be an excellent twist in this carnival of events," Medvedev, who is now deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council, was quoted as saying by state news agency TASS.

Such a scenario was not unrealistic, he added.

"There are even grounds for prosecuting him in Germany, so it would be no loss, especially since the citizens are suffering needlessly," Medvedev said.

Medvedev, who served as Russian president from 2008 to 2012, has in recent years emerged as one of the Kremlin's most outspoken hardliners, frequently delivering aggressive rhetorical attacks against Ukraine and the West.

He also said claims by the Trump administration that Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro — who was arrested in a US military operation over the weekend and taken to New York — was illegitimate did not withstand scrutiny.