BERLIN (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 16th June, 2021) The German Defense Ministry said on Wednesday it had recalled a motorized infantry platoon from a NATO mission in Lithuania after reports of racist singing and sexual abuse.
Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer said that the alleged misconduct was a "slap in the face of everyone in the Bundeswehr serving the security of our country day after day."
"The entire platoon will be withdrawn from the enhanced forward presence [mission] with immediate effect. The necessary probe and proceedings will continue in Germany and there will be consequences," she tweeted.
Four soldiers were initially suspended after Der Spiegel magazine reported on an incident that took place in a Lithuanian hotel in April. German troops allegedly sang racist and anti-Semitic songs at a party, and a sexual assault was filmed.
The defense ministry said that the soldiers in question faced summary dismissal under Germany's military act. The probe also revealed a "triple-digits" shortage of munitions in the platoon.
