Russia withdraws from military technical cooperation agreement with Germany

According to RIA Novosti, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin signed a decree on July 18 to terminate the agreement with Germany on military technical cooperation.

"In accordance with Article 37 of the Federal Law "On International Treaties of the Russian Federation", to terminate the agreement between the Government of the Russian Federation and the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany on military and technical cooperation signed in Moscow on June 14, 1996" - the document says.

The Russian Foreign Ministry was instructed to inform Berlin about this decision.

In June, the Russian Foreign Ministry stressed that the context leading to this decision was the openly hostile policy and militaristic aspirations of the German government.

The head of the German Constitutional and Sovereignty Council, Ralph Niemeier, said that there would be no official German reaction to Russia's withdrawal from the treaty, as it was now completely forced to take place.

Meanwhile, on July 18, according to Bild newspaper, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz accused European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen of the failure of the European Union's policy towards Ukraine.

“Chancellor Merz accused the EU of failure, saying that Brussels was “too prescriptive, too bureaucratic, too slow”. The common policy towards Ukraine also “required a lot of effort”. It was a direct attack on Ms von der Leyen, who has been president of the European Commission since 2019”, Bild said.

Chancellor Merz at a press conference in Berlin also called for "improving the situation in the EU" to be able to meet all challenges.

Earlier, on July 17, at a joint press conference with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Prime Minister Merz said that it was necessary to achieve clarity on how to transfer European weapons systems to Ukraine, including Patriots, which will be replaced from the US stockpile.