Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on July 24, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 22, 2026
Add as preferred source on GoogleRussia criticizes Germany's militarisation under Chancellor Merz, citing increased defense spending and support for Ukraine.
MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russia accused German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Thursday of pursuing a path of "militarisation" and said this was a cause for concern.
Merz, a conservative who took office in May, has taken a more robust stance in support of Ukraine than his Social Democrat predecessor Olaf Scholz, while promising to increase pressure on Russia over the conflict in Ukraine.
He visited Kyiv within days of becoming chancellor, and endorsed Ukraine's right to launch long-range missile strikes into Russian territory.
Under Merz, Germany plans to boost defence spending rapidly to 3.5% of gross domestic product by 2029, having hit the previous NATO target of 2% only in 2024.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told her weekly news briefing that Germany had pursued an openly hostile policy towards Russia in recent years, and that Merz was stepping up anti-Russian rhetoric "literally every day".
"This rhetoric is becoming more and more aggressively militant. And we believe that the course he has chosen to escalate relations with Russia in parallel with the forced militarisation of Germany is a cause for great concern, first of all for the citizens of (Germany) themselves," Zakharova said.
Berlin did not immediately comment on Zakharova's remarks.
(Reporting by Dmitry Antonov, Writing by Mark Trevelyan and Felix Light, Editing by Timothy Heritage)
Russia accused German Chancellor Friedrich Merz of pursuing a path of 'militarisation', which they see as a cause for concern.
Merz has taken a more robust stance in support of Ukraine compared to his predecessor Olaf Scholz, including endorsing Ukraine's right to launch long-range missile strikes into Russian territory.
Under Merz, Germany plans to boost its defence spending to 3.5% of gross domestic product by 2029, having only reached the previous NATO target of 2% in 2024.
Maria Zakharova stated that Germany has pursued an openly hostile policy towards Russia in recent years, and that Merz is escalating anti-Russian rhetoric.
Berlin did not immediately comment on Zakharova's remarks regarding Germany's militarisation and its relations with Russia.
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