Group is still negotiating construction: Medvedev wants to shoot at the Rheinmetall factory in Ukraine

Rheinmetall is toying with the idea of ​​opening a plant in Ukraine.

Group is still negotiating construction: Medvedev wants to shoot at the Rheinmetall factory in Ukraine

Rheinmetall is toying with the idea of ​​opening a plant in Ukraine. Russia's ex-president Medvedev reacted to this announcement with his usual gruffness. He threatens that if the armaments company's "Fritzs" carry out their plan, the Russians will attack the factory.

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev reacted aggressively and sarcastically to Rheinmetall's proposal to build a tank factory in Ukraine. The initiative is probably a kind of "primitive trolling" against the government in Kiev, he wrote on his Telegram channel. "But if the Fritzen decide to actually build there (although they are actually pragmatic people), then we will be waiting eagerly. The event will be marked with a proper salute from Kalibr and other pyrotechnic devices," he threatened.

Kalibr are cruise missiles that are primarily launched from ships. The Russian Black Sea Fleet has been using it extensively in recent months to shell Ukrainian power plants.

Medvedev, who was seen as a rather liberal representative of the Russian authorities during his tenure from 2008 to 2012, has been trying to present himself as a hardliner with sharp rhetoric against the West and the political leadership in Kiev since the beginning of the Russian war of aggression. Observers suspect that he wants to position himself for a possible successor to Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin.

For example, on the anniversary of the invasion at the end of February, Medvedev threatened to completely subdue Ukraine. He repeated Moscow's propaganda accusation that Kiev was being ruled by neo-Nazis and was therefore dangerous for Russia. "That's why it is so important that the military special operation achieves its goal. To push back the limit of danger for our country as much as possible, even if it is the border of Poland," Medvedev wrote on the social network Telegram. "To completely destroy neo-Nazism."

Armin Papperger, head of the Rheinmetall armaments group, is currently negotiating the construction of a tank factory on Ukrainian soil. "A Rheinmetall plant can be built in Ukraine for around 200 million euros, which produces up to 400 Panthers a year. Talks with the government there are promising and I hope for a decision in the next two months," said Papperger "Rheinische Post". The plant could be protected against Russian air raids. "Anti-aircraft protection would not be difficult."

According to Papperger, Ukraine needs 600 to 800 tanks to win. In order for the crowd to come together, the construction of new tanks would have to start quickly. "Even if Germany gave up all of the 300 Leopard 2 tanks available to the Bundeswehr, that would still be far too few," says Papperger. "As a solution, in 15 to 18 months we can start series production of the new Panther battle tank, which we have developed independently, in Germany and Hungary and later build up to 400 units a year."