Germany not ‘intimidated’ by Putin’s nuclear threats, says Foreign Ministry

Germany said on Monday it was not deterred by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s threats to relaunch production of intermediate-range nuclear weapons if the United States confirms its intention to deploy missiles to Europe.

“We will not be intimidated by such statements,” foreign ministry spokesman Sebastian Fischer told a government press conference.

In early July, Washington and Berlin announced that the “episodic deployments” of long-range US missiles, including Tomahawk cruise missiles, to Germany would begin in 2026.

READ ALSO: Why the US plans to station long range missiles in Germany

Putin on Sunday threatened to relaunch production of intermediate-range nuclear weapons if the plans go ahead.

“We will consider ourselves liberated from the unilateral moratorium previously adopted on the deployment of medium- and short-range strike capabilities,” Putin said during a naval parade in Saint Petersburg.

Putin added that now in Russia “the development of a number of such systems is in the final stages”.

Such missiles, which can travel between 500 and 5,500 kilometres (300-3,400 miles), were the subject of an arms control treaty signed by the United States and the Soviet Union in 1987.

But both Washington and Moscow withdrew from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty in 2019, each accusing the other of violations.

“This type of missile… had already been developed and deployed long ago” by Russia, Fischer said. “What we are now planning is a response to deter these weapons from being used against Germany or other targets.” 

Germany’s Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) has previously defended the stationing of long-range US missiles in Germany.

Arson attack on Hamburg-Bremen railway line

An arson attack caused disruption on the Hamburg-Bremen railway line on Monday.

Perpetrators set fire to the pipes in a cable shaft on the tracks on the railway embankment at Bremen’s Bürgerpark with an incendiary agent in the early morning.

No people were injured, according to police.

The fire and rescue service extinguished the flames, and an investigation has been launched. This attack follows more severe and widespread arson attacks on train infrastructure seen last Friday in France.

Initially, no ICE trains between North Rhine-Westphalia and Hamburg could run via Bremen Central Station. The route between Sagehorn (Verden district) east of Bremen and the local main station was also affected. 

READ ALSO: How Germany’s high-traffic ‘Riedbahn’ train route closure will hit travellers

According to Deutsche Bahn, long-distance trains were later rerouted to their standard paths, but with delays.

Fire at Germany’s BASF plant leaves 18 injured

An explosion and subsequent fire Monday at the main plant of German chemical giant BASF left 18 workers slightly injured, the company said.

The explosion happened around midday in the southern part of the massive Ludwigshafen plant, BASF said, and set off a fire that was extinguished an hour later.

The company said its injured employees had received care on site.

Images showed a cloud of smoke emanating from the Ludwigshafen plant, the largest chemicals complex in the world.

Residents were initially told to keep doors and windows shut, but authorities in the western German city later gave the all-clear.

German Paralympian urges people to tune into Games 

Sports for people with a disability, such as wheelchair tennis, aren’t typically seen on tv. But at the Paralympic Games, they get a big stage.

The competitions begin on August 28th in Paris, shortly after the Olympic Games. Athletes from all over the world compete against each other in 22 sports. 

German former track and field athlete, Mathias Mester says the Paralympic Games have an important message for people. “There’s no such thing as impossible,” he said. “You can do anything in your own way.”

Mester thinks it’s good that athletes with disabilities get more attention during the Paralympic Games.

At his first Paralympic Games, he had 91,000 spectators. “You usually only experience that as a footballer,” he says.

German forests are disappearing 

Forests in Germany that people enjoy today may not be around for much longer, according to experts.

“It’s easy to imagine the forest as it was when you were a child, but the forests are changing now,” says Henrik Hartmann, head of the Institute for Forest Protection at the Julius Kühn Institute in Quedlinburg.

Native tree populations in Germany, and in many other parts of the world, are struggling with the consequences of climate change.

Heat waves, droughts and storms weaken tree populations. At the same time pests such as insects and fungi benefit from the rising temperatures, and the trees’ weakened immune systems.

Spruce and oak species in Germany are threatened in particular by pest beetles. Beech populations are being taken out by disease and ash and maple trees are being attacked by fungi.

“The balance between trees and the other organisms often no longer works,” forestry expert Petercord from North Rhine-Westphalia told DPA.

“The main native tree species will all lose ground,” Petercord is certain. On the other hand, other species may have the chance to be much more common in Germany: the hornbeam, for example, the fluttering elm or the alder.

Some conservationists speak about “assisted migration”, in which tree species from distant regions are introduced to the places where they can be expected to best adapt to the future climate. Trees planted today would have to cope with the climate in 100 years.

In this sense, it could be that Germany’s forest don’t disappear. But they will certainly change significantly.

READ ALSO: Older Germans ‘more knowledgeable’ about climate change than young people

With reporting by DPA and Paul Krantz.