Germany sacks top NATO general 'for making rape joke in front of female British army officer'
Germany has sacked a top NATO general after he reportedly made a rape joke in front of a female British army officer.
Major General Hartmut Renk, 62, was dismissed from his role as deputy commander for Ukraine support in the alliance after he was heard saying: 'If rape is inevitable, then relax and enjoy,' during a meeting.
The offensive comment reportedly sparked outrage in the room, where a number of NATO colleagues were said to be present.
The British military officer then lodged a formal complaint, prompting an urgent investigation by Germany's defence ministry.
According to German news website Der Spiegel, Renk admitted to making the remark, claiming it was meant as 'ironic and sarcastic' motivation - a defence that failed to prevent his dismissal from his posting in Wiesbaden, west Germany.
The scandal reached the highest levels of Germany's military and government with Defence Minister Boris Pistorius and Carsten Breuer, the head of the Bundeswehr, the German armed forces, becoming personally involved in reviewing the case.
Pistorius later confirmed that Renk had been dismissed from his critical role due to the gravity of the incident.
According to Spiegel Renk's NATO career is now effectively over. A planned promotion to a different posting to NATO's Norfolk command base in the US has been scrapped over the rape comments, and his early departure from Wiesbaden has already been initiated.
Renk is now to be temporarily retired in the autumn.
The general, who joined the Bundeswehr in 1982 and previously served in Afghanistan and Kosovo, has become the second high-ranking German officer in a year to be pulled from a top NATO post.
Last year, a separate officer was recalled to Germany after being caught taking classified documents home from NATO headquarters in Brussels.
But the incident is another blow to Germany's efforts to reshape its armed forces under Chancellor Friedrich Merz's ambitious slogan 'Germany is back'.
The centre-right leader has pledged a massive funding boost and structural reform of the Bundeswehr to address its reputation for being underfunded, disorganised, and underprepared for modern conflict.
A string of recent scandals, including the infamous 2024 leak of a secret call among Luftwaffe officers discussing the delivery of Taurus missiles to Ukraine, has cast doubts over the Bundeswehr's internal discipline and NATO reliability.
Germany's defence minister has refused to comment further on the Renk case, citing confidentiality over personal matters.
A spokeswoman told The Times: 'For reasons of data protection and personal rights, we are generally unable to make any statements on personal issues, regardless of the facts requested or persons mentioned.
She added: 'Irrespective of your specific inquiry and as a matter of principle, there is no room for sexualised misconduct in the Bundeswehr and appropriate measures will be initiated and implemented without exception and consistently, regardless of the individual, if possible cases become known.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Reuters
22 minutes ago
- Reuters
Greenpeace joins protests against gala Bezos wedding in Venice
VENICE, Italy, June 23 (Reuters) - Global environmental lobby Greenpeace added its voice on Monday to protests against this week's celebrity wedding in Venice between American tech billionaire Jeff Bezos and journalist Laura Sanchez. The event, expected to attract some 200 guests including U.S. President Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner, as well as scores of stars from film, fashion and business, has been dubbed "the wedding of the century". But some locals see the celebration as the latest sign of the brash commodification of a beautiful but fragile city that has long been overrun with tourism while steadily depopulating. Activists from Greenpeace Italy and UK group "Everyone hates Elon" (Musk) unfolded a giant banner in central St Mark's Square with a picture of Bezos laughing and a sign reading: "If you can rent Venice for your wedding you can pay more tax." Local police arrived to talk to activists and check their identification documents, before they rolled up their banner. "The problem is not the wedding, the problem is the system. We think that one big billionaire can't rent a city for his pleasure," Simona Abbate, one of the protesters, told Reuters. Mayor Luigi Brugnaro and regional governor Luca Zaia have defended the wedding, arguing that it will bring an economic windfall to local businesses, including the motor boats and gondolas that operate its myriad canals. Zaia said the celebrations were expected to cost 20-30 million euros ($23-$34 million). Bezos will also make sizable charity donations, including a million euros for Corila, an academic consortium that studies Venice's lagoon ecosystem, Italy's Corriere della Sera newspaper and the ANSA news agency reported on Sunday. Earlier this month, anti-Bezos banners were hung from St Mark's bell tower and from the famed Rialto bridge, while locals threatened peaceful blockades against the event, saying Venice needed public services and housing, not VIPs and over-tourism. The exact dates and locations of the glitzy nuptials are being kept confidential, but celebrations are expected to play out over three days, most likely around June 26-28. ($1 = 0.8722 euros)
Daily Mail
25 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Video shows 'guests' at Disneyland Paris wedding rehearsal ahead of 'fake' marriage of 'scared and confused' nine-year-old Ukrainian girl to a British man in his 20s before his arrest
Eerie footage of an alleged 'wedding' between a 22-year-old Brit and nine-year-old girl at Disneyland Paris has been shared. The fairy-tale Sleeping Beauty castle was the backdrop for the £111,000 'social media' stunt, accompanied with musicians, a cake and chairs for hundreds of guests. The popular tourist attraction was hired out before it was open to the public early on Saturday morning but were not aware the event was allegedly being held for a minor. Around 100 seated guests were waiting for the ceremony to start as a female violin trio played at dawn before a stage strewn with flowers. A French broadcaster, BFM, shared the weird footage , as well as an image of a pink ribbon bracelet that read 'Margo & Jack 21st June 2025'. The Brit was arrested after park staff were shocked to see the 'scared and confused' child turn up for the event wearing what was said to be a bridal dress and four-inch heels taped to her feet, according to French newspaper Le Parisien. Her mother, who is believed to be of Ukrainian heritage and was later arrested, had reportedly said she wanted her daughter to feel like a Disney 'princess' for the day, according to DW. The girl is said to have been carried around because she could not walk in the extravagant costume. Alongside her family, 200 adult guests and 100 children aged five to 15 had been hired online for what was bizarrely advertised as a 'chic and elegant' 'rehearsal' wedding, Le Parisien reported. They were allegedly paid €200 and had to 'enter the room, sit down, stand up, applaud, and participate naturally and elegantly in this event filmed in a festive and classy atmosphere'. But organisers had booked the park for a function they said would be a genuine wedding ceremony. Police arrived on scene and took the man into custody along with the girl's 41-year-old mother. The 'groom' - who the mother allegedly said was a 'friend' - later told police the aim had been to make a video for social media. A statement issued by the prosecutor's office in the nearby town of Meaux said: 'Four people were arrested and questioned: the groom, who was believed to be the organiser of the event and is presumed to be British and aged 22; the mother of the child, a 41-year-old Ukrainian woman; and two Latvian nationals aged 55 and 24.' The 55-year-old has claimed he was recruited to play the role of the bride's father for 12,000 euros but discovered last minute she was nine years old, local news reports. The prosecutor's statement added 'police custody of the British suspect and a Latvian national was also extended on charges of fraud and money laundering'. Disneyland Paris was reportedly deceived about the nature of the event, with the organiser assuming the 'identity of a Latvian national' and using 'false documents to secure the conclusion of the contract for privatising the park', BFM TV reports. The event costs the organisers $130,000 (£111,000), BFM added. However, Le Parisien reported that the man had presented himself 'as a future Irish groom living in Germany'. They highlighted that filming at Disneyland Paris is strictly forbidden and so 'the man may have devised this subterfuge to obtain images of the park'. Disneyland Paris told Le Parisien the event was immediately shut down by its team and that guests were stopped from entering the premises. The prosecutor's office confirmed today that a criminal investigation has opened. Circumstances around the wedding remain unclear, but a medical examination of the young girl found she had not suffered any violence, the prosecutor's office said. Officials added they were not ruling out that the event may have been a prank, with the guests attending as possible 'extras'. The groom had said that he was the director of a production company and they were shooting a video, a police source later told Le Parisien. A source who claimed to have been a wedding guest told Le Parisien: 'We all thought we were going to attend a wedding... Everyone was stunned, no one expected it. Disneyland did things very well. 'They cancelled everything as soon as they realized the bride was a child. We were shocked to see that.' The extras said they had been driven from central Paris on buses at 5am and handed pink bracelets with the names of the 'bride and groom' printed on them. 'Guests' were told filming was to remain strictly confidential - white chairs, a large cake, musicians and a castle were in place to make the ceremony look realistic, BFM reports. One extra, named Yeleen, who attended the ceremony with her daughter, said: 'I saw a little girl dressed in white. I saw her hair prepared with curls and a lady picking her up in her arms. 'At that moment, I was shocked. I realised when I saw the child. It was atrocious.' The prosecutor's office later explained: 'So it wasn't a wedding, but a staged wedding filmed with around a hundred extras. They privatized Disneyland Paris, pretending it was a real wedding.' The prosecution has charged the two suspects with 'fraud and breach of trust' against Disneyland Paris. They will both be brought before the Meaux judicial court today as part of the opening of a judicial investigation.
Sky News
27 minutes ago
- Sky News
Plans to cut energy costs for thousands of businesses announced
Plans to cut energy costs for thousands of businesses have been announced as part of the government's long-awaited industrial strategy. The announcement confirms Sky News reporting that the plan proposes making energy prices more competitive. Firms have said high prices have hindered growth and made them less competitive. Commercial energy prices are the highest in the G7 group of industrialised nations. Under the industrial strategy for 2025 to 2035, the government has said it plans to cut the bills of electricity-intensive manufacturers by up to £40 per megawatt hour - up to 25% - from 2027, which could benefit more than 7,000 businesses. These savings will come by exempting them from certain levies on bills. Roughly 500 of the most energy-intensive companies, such as the steel industry, chemicals and glassmaking industries, will also see their network charges cut. The current 60% discount they get, via the British Industry Supercharger scheme, will increase to 90% from next year. The government also said the energy measures would be funded through reforms to the energy system, without raising household bills or taxes. The scope and eligibility for the scheme will be finalised after a consultation. The policy is the first industrial strategy of its kind in eight years and comes as part of the government's key priority of growing the economy. Pressure was on to develop such a policy after the US's Inflation Reduction Act boosted investment in renewable energy, and the European Union's Net-Zero Industry Act was designed to boost domestic production. A "bespoke" 10-year plan has been created for eight sectors where the UK is said to be strong already and there is potential for growth. The sectors named by the government are advanced manufacturing, clean energy, creative industries, defence, digital and technologies, life sciences, professional and business services, and financial services. The state-owned British Business Bank will expand to spur investment into smaller companies, and provide an extra £1.2bn a year by 2028-29.
