BERLIN, August 16. /TASS/. The termination of the Treaties on missile armament cuts and liquidation will affect Europe’s security, German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said on Wednesday.
Germany’s top diplomat made this statement after a meeting with experts of the Commission on Challenges to Deep Nuclear Weapons Cuts from Russia, the United States and Germany.
"The possible termination of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty and the non-prolongation of the New START Treaty [the Treaty on Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms] are what will eventually threaten Europe, in the first place," Gabriel said.
The German foreign minister also said he shared the experts’ opinion that "the worst Cold War mistakes are repeated" and the world is at the stage of "Cold War 2.0."
According to him, European countries should become active participants in the disarmament discussion.
"Germany should speak more actively with the United States, with Russia about this within the NATO framework," the foreign minister said.
At the same time, Social Democrat Gabriel again lashed at the Conservatives in the German government who advocated a sharp increase in defense spending.
"In this regard, it is more important to double the efficiency of expenditures rather than their volume," he said.
"I expect that the political leadership in [the Christian Democratic/Christian Social] Union won’t yield to the militarist logic [of US President Donald Trump] and this is what exactly is taking place now," the German foreign minister said, noting that such policy could become a problem for Berlin.