The scooters, which come from German manufacturer Rotinor’s Stuttgart plant, will allow military divers to move under water quicker, further and with more cargo – including explosives, defence24.pl reports.
Russian newswire RIA Novosti said Spetsnaz troops had received batches of the Seabob Black Shadow 730 underwater scooters over the last three years.
Polish Radio’s Przemysław Pawełek spoke to Przemysław Żurawski vel Grajewski of Łódź University about the German military support for Russia.
PP: Are we dealing with a dangerous precedent here?
PŻ: Maybe it’s no precedent, because Germany has sold Russia military technologies on a great scale. In June 2011 an agreement was signed between Germany’s Rheinmetall [manufacturer] and the Russian defence ministry for building a military training centre near Nizhny Novgorod which was continued to March 2014 [....] a lot of technology was exported.
After the invasion of Crimea this partnership was suspended but the transfer of technology until that time was significant and according to the CIA, German know-how was used by Russians logistically during operations for the occupation of Crimea. Firstly, this looks like a covert continuation of the partnership, of course on a different scale, somewhat smaller than earlier.
Secondly, it looks like ignoring sanctions, agreements made after the invasion, after the sanctions were introduced. We have information that the cooperation will be continued.
Finally, as you’ve rightly noticed, the danger is not just ... a possible Russian operation against major Ukrainian ports, whether they be Mariupol or Odessa, but also against Baltic states, which we should not understand to be just Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia but also Finland or Sweden or even, something we cannot rule out in the long term, Germany itself.
I think this illustrates a theory that has been known since Bolshevik times, that the capitalists will sell us the string that we will hang them on. It’s a fairly brutal theory, but I think it’s applicable.
PP: When I said precedent I meant the situation which is at hand since the beginning of the conflict in eastern Ukraine. Just recently we had EU debate about the sale of French Mistrals to Russia, which many EU countries were opposed to. However, a military-business agreement was forged by Russia and Germany. In your opinion, is this a short-sighted business relationship or is there politics behind it?
PŻ: I think these are more likely short-signed business relations. I’m sure it is not in Germany’s interests to support Russia’s expansion, especially not military expansion [...] It is neither in the German interest nor their intent. However, clearly, which is always strange to say, the German government is sensitive enough to the interests and pressures of its armaments sector to turn a blind eye to such issues.
(more to follow)