No politics, just business. As a businessman, Trump should understand it. That's the Foreign Ministry's comment on the US president's statement accusing Germany of allegedly being hostage to Russian gas.
Moscow has supplied it to Europe for over half a century, remaining a reliable partner despite all the geopolitical perturbations. Whom Germany is actually dependent on can be seen in the fields other than energy.
Maria Zakharova, Foreign Ministry's spokesperson: "The number of American troops at German bases is about 35,000 people. It shows who actually controls Germany. We have business with Germany. And the US has military bases in Germany."
Blackmailing that Washington resorts to in order to boost its LNG exports to Europe already provokes Berlin's outright anger. According to W. Ischinger, chairman of the Munich Security Conference, it's time for Europe to grow up and learn to ensure its safety without the USA, going so far as to withdraw the American troops from the country.
Opinion polls show that 1 in 2 Germans, or 42%, share this stance. 70% of the population want to return nuclear warheads to the USA, which are now kept at Büchel Air Base, Germany.
