The former leader of the SPD parliamentary group leader Rolf Mützenich is calling on Germany to engage in arms control talks with Moscow instead of rebuilding the German military to face the Russian threat.
Mützenich, who has long been one of the most influential foreign policy advisors in the German social democratic party, made the comments in response to the Trump announcing that he will be pulling out a substantial number of the U.S. troops stationed in Germany.
"We must now push for the withdrawal of Russian nuclear-armed medium-range missiles from Belarus and Kaliningrad," Mützenich told Süddeutsche Zeitung.
Further steps could then be "embedded in an overall arms control process."
Mützenich pointed in particular to the US decision to refrain from stationing medium-range missiles in Germany. Through the disarmament initiative he supports, Europe could now "regain a role that in the past consisted of deterrence and clever diplomacy," the SPD politician said.
President Donald Trump has announced a partial withdrawal of US troops from Germany. It concerns "far more than 5,000" US soldiers, Trump said on Saturday.
The US Interior Ministry had previously circulated this figure.
According to a spokesman, the withdrawal is to be completed within the next six to twelve months.
Rolf Mützenich served as leader of the SPD parliamentary group between 2019 and 2025. During that time he made numerous statements interpreted as putting pressure on Chancellor Olaf Scholz to minimize German military aid for Ukraine and maintain close economic ties with Russia despite its war of aggression against Ukraine.