German navy chief resigns over 'Putin deserves respect' remark
India Today
Germany's navy chief stepped down on Saturday after drawing criticism for saying Russian President Vladimir Putin deserved respect and that Kyiv would never winback annexed Crimea from Moscow.
The head of Germany's navy has resigned following controversial remarks on the crisis in Ukraine, a defence ministry spokesman said on Saturday.
Kay-Achim Schoenbach said the idea that Russia wanted to invade Ukraine was "nonsense", adding that Putin deserved respect, in comments at a think-tank meeting in New Delhi on Friday.
The vice-admiral would leave his post "with immediate effect" the spokesman told AFP.
In a video filmed at the New Delhi meeting, Schoenbach said that what Putin wanted was "to be respected".
"It's easy to give him the respect he wants, and probably deserves as well," he said.
He also said that the Crimean peninsula, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014, was gone and would not come back to Ukraine.
On Saturday, Schoenbach made it clear that his comments did not represent the government's view and had been ill-advised.
