German Military Spending Jumps by 20 Million Euros Due to Ukraine Exercises
19:35 30.07.2015
The German Defense Ministry spokesman said that Germany will increase military spending from 70 to 90 million euros because of the NATO exercises in eastern Ukraine.
The German Defense Ministry will spend 20 million euros more than planned to hold military exercises in Ukraine in 2015, a representative of the German Defense Ministry said on Thursday.
'The reason for the increase in expenses from 70 to almost 90 million euros are NATO exercises in the eastern regions,' the official said as cited by the German media.
A total of 154,000 Bundeswehr soldiers will participate in international military exercises this year. This is slightly less than last year (160,000), but more than twice as much as compared to the year 2013 (73,000).
In Poland and the Baltic states alone there are 4,400 Bundeswehr soldiers involved in 16 different exercises. Over 35,000 soldiers from 35 countries, including 3,000 German soldiers, will participate in the military exercise "Trident Juncture", which will take place in Italy, Spain and Portugal from September 28 to October 16.
The German Left party criticizes the maneuvers. According to its member Heike Hensel, the purpose of these activities is to aggravate relations with Russia and put under threat the peaceful order in Europe.
© Sputnik
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