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NATO airbase in Germany raises security level over ‘potential threat’

A NATO airbase in western Germany said Thursday it had raised its security level over a "potential threat".

Published: 23 August 2024 08:49 CEST

Soldiers guard the entrance area at the NATO Airbase in Geilenkirchen .

Soldiers guard the entrance area at the NATO Airbase in Geilenkirchen . Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Christoph Reichwein

“We raised the security level at NATO Airbase Geilenkirchen based on intelligence information indicating potential threat,” the base said in a post on social media platform X.

The announcement comes just over a week after a German military base was sealed off for several hours as authorities investigated suspected sabotage.

The base in Cologne-Wahn was locked down after a hole was discovered in a fence near drinking water storage facilities.

But test results eventually showed that the tap water was not contaminated, according to the German army.

At the same time, NATO announced an attempted trespassing incident at the Geilenkirchen base.

An individual attempted to enter the base but was stopped and sent away, a spokesman said.

No link between the two incidents has been established.

Germany – a key ally of Kyiv – has been on high alert for sabotage and attacks on military facilities in the country in the wake of Moscow’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

In April, investigators arrested two German-Russian men on suspicion of spying for Russia and planning attacks in Germany – including on US army facilities – to undermine military support for Ukraine.

READ ALSO: Why is NATO’s historic air defence drill so important for Germany?

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EXPLAINED: Why German leaders are bashing planned Ukraine aid cuts

As was announced Saturday, Germany’s proposed 2025 budget includes €4 billion in financial aid for Ukraine’s defence next year – about half of what was budgeted this year.

But the idea of cutting defence funding to Ukraine has brought backlash from both the conservative CDU party as well as leaders within the coalition.

Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) has led the charge on ensuring Germany maintains a tight budget. The DPA reported that he wrote a letter to Defence Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) and Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) that “new measures” should only be entered into if “financing is secured” in the budgets for the coming years.

Budget cuts for Ukraine met with severe criticism

The finance ministry has suggested that any additional funding to Ukraine needs to be based on specifically reported and comprehensible needs.

The finance ministry’s phrasing seems to have come as a shock to many given an onslaught of bleak reports from the front lines in Ukraine this year that highlighted the damage being done due to lack of key air defences and funding.

Members of the CDU denounced what they claim to be foul politics and irresponsible policy.

“No one knows when and how much money will be available…This is another chapter of political tricks and deception,” Thorsten Frei, parliamentary secretary of the CDU party, told Funke media.

CDU member Christoph Ploß told Der Spiegel, “If the federal government now acts hesitantly and opportunistically, not only we, but also our children and grandchildren will have to pay bitterly.”

But criticism for the draft budget, which is backed by Chancellor Olaf Scholz, isn’t only coming from opposition parties.

Chairman of the Bundestag Committee on Foreign Affairs, Michael Roth, from Scholz’s own Social Democrat Party, said on Monday that the budget “is a fatal signal for Ukraine”. He added, “We cannot make our security dependent on budgetary constraints”.

The Green party also penned an open letter to German government leadership calling for commitment to Ukraine.

“The budget agreement gives the impression that the German debt brake is more important than the life and survival of an attacked European nation…” the Green party’s letter reads.

Aspects of Germany’s 2025 budget are still to be negotiated until it is officially adopted by the end of the year.

READ ALSO: Two years on – How many Ukrainians have come to (and stayed) in Germany?

Can German aid be offset with Russian assets?

The finance ministry suggests that billions in aid from Germany can be replaced by allowing Ukraine to collect interest from frozen Russian state assets.

G7 countries recently agreed to fund Ukraine with an additional €50 billion, using Russian central bank assets which were frozen in 2022 as collateral – a loan which is expected to sustain the Ukrainian army for roughly one year.

But critics warn that providing Ukraine with the resources it needs to defend itself will take further investments in the coming years, whereas Germany’s current plan is to cut down aid significantly through 2027.

$50bn in proceeds from Russia’s frozen assets won’t be enough to replace the support for Ukraine that Berlin intends to absolutely gut.

Me for @Telegraph #MakeRussiaPay https://t.co/J6q2tRefHj

— Aaron Gasch Burnett (@AaronGBurnett) August 18, 2024

In the current year, Germany is providing almost €7.5 billion for military support for Ukraine, amounting to about €34 billion in military, humanitarian and financial aid to Ukraine since the beginning of the Russian invasion.

READ ALSO: What a Russian victory in Ukraine would mean for Germany

According to the draft budget, funding would be cut to €4 billion in 2025, and down to €500 million in 2027.

With reporting by DPA.

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