Germany's defence minister urged the country to prepare for war over Russia's threat

German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius has said that it is necessary to make the country ready for war" amid growing threats from Russia. This is reported by The Washington Post.

According to Pistorius, Germany should strengthen its defence, as Moscow's aggressive policy and US calls for greater independence of Europe in the security sphere require concrete steps.

He pointed out that after World War II, Germany positioned itself as a peace project, but today the Bundeswehr remains understaffed and technically obsolete. The army is short of about 80,000 troops to the planned 260,000 it intends to recruit over the next decade.

Pistorius' initiative has sparked heated discussions in political circles.

Germans would like to be like Switzerland - economically successful but politically neutral. We are not ready to think seriously about war again," said the minister's teammate Sigmar Gabriel.

To solve the manning problem, Pistorius proposed a voluntary service model - a compromise between the party's anti-conscription stance and the need to strengthen the army. However, this initiative was blocked by the Christian Democratic Union. Later, the coalition proposed a partial conscription through a lottery, but Pistorius did not support it.