Russian President Vladimir Putin said that legally the United States allegedly did not stop the occupation of Germany after the Second World War. We checked whether this is so.
January 25, 2023, at a meeting with students, Russian President Vladimir Putin said: “The Soviet Union legally issued the termination of the occupation (Germany. - Approx. Ed.). Indeed, after the Second World War, Germany was, as you know, divided into four sectors: American, English, French and Soviet. So the Soviet Union issued the termination of this occupation status, and the United States did not. Strictly speaking, formally, legally in the territory of the Federal Republic of Germany, there are American occupation troops. And in fact it is: there are a lot of them there. ” Putin's words were quoted by the largest Russian media, including TASS, "Vedomosti","RIA Novosti","Russian newspaper".
In the context of Putin's quote, it is important to understand the meaning of the terms of international law: sovereignty and occupation. State sovereignty - This is the independence of the state in its internal and international affairs. The respect of sovereignty is enshrined in Declarations On the principles of international law of the UN. At the same time, states can partially delegate the sovereignty of supranational institutions (for example, the EU). A Military occupation means state control of the state over the territory located outside its internationally recognized boundaries. In this case, the occupying side does not acquire a sovereignty over the occupied territory.
After the defeat in the Second World War Germany Stopped exist as a sovereign state. According to June 5, 1945 Declarations The defeat, control over the territory of the country passed to the USA, Great Britain, the Soviet Union and France.

In 1949, the territory controlled by the United States, Great Britain and France was proclaimed Federal Republic of Germany (Germany), and the territory controlled by the USSR, by the German Democratic Republic (GDR). He entered into force Occupation statussigned by military governors of the American, British and French zones of Germany. According to this document, the governments of the three countries “express their desire and intention that the German people at a time when the continuation of the occupation seems to be necessary, in the most complete form, the possibility of self -government, compatible with such occupation” and therefore transfer the “entire fullness” of the authorities with the exception of several spheres. Among them were, in particular, control over the disarmament and demilitarization, the protection and security of the Union forces, foreign ties and international agreements concluded by Germany, foreign trade, and the implementation of the provisions Basic Law (Constitution of Germany) and constitutions of federal lands.
May 26, 1952 in Bonn Chancellor of Germany Conrad Adenauer and Foreign Ministers of Great Britain, the USA and France signed General agreement (also known as Bonn), who canceled the occupation regime, proclaimed the “completeness of power” by Germany in matters of foreign and domestic policy and, among other things, legalized the creation of the West German army. At the same time, the agreement retained the US, Great Britain and France, the right to not only deploy its troops in the territory of Germany, but also increase their numbers and even conduct maneuvers. The entry of the general agreement depended on the approval Parisian agreement On the creation of the European defensive community (EOS) - the military bloc of France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. However, the ratification of the Paris Treaty in August 1954 was rejected in the French parliament, so the entry into force of the general contract also failed.

The provisions of the general contract were nevertheless ratified after signing in October of the same 1954 Parisian agreements On the creation of the Military Union of Germany with the USA, Great Britain, France, Italy, Canada, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. This document agreed on the termination of the occupation status. Parisian agreements entered into force on May 5, 1955, and the Government of Germany issued proclamation On the end of the occupation of the republic. As a result, Germany received "the complete power of the sovereign state in relation to its internal and external affairs." The next day Germany I became 15th member of NATO. Nevertheless, in the Parisian agreements there was reservationthat the United States, Great Britain and France will retain the right to place its troops in its former volume in the country, and in the event of an attack on Germany from the outside or the immediate threat of such an attack, additional armed forces without coordination with the federal government will be able to enter.
Allies' right to act “in the event of an attack from outside” without the consent of the Federal Republic of Germany was preserved until 1968, when the seventeenth law was adopted to supplement the FRG Basic Law (Emergency law). According to the new amendment, reservation From the Parisian agreements on the deployment of the Armed Forces of the Armed Forces of the Three States, she ceased to action. Troops of the United States, Great Britain and France still Remained On the territory of Germany, but not as occupying forces, but as part of the agreements on the deployment of NATO troops (these three countries were among the founders of the North Atlantic Alliance).
In 1990, Germany and GDR, as well as Great Britain, the USSR, the USA and France signed The final settlement agreement against Germanyalso known as “Treaty 2+4”. The contract formally united the Federal Republic of Germany and the GDR into a single Germany and terminated the rights of four victorious countries in the territory of a united state.

Perhaps Vladimir Putin confused the fact that the “Agreement 2+4” was clearly spelled out requirement To withdraw Soviet troops from the territory of the GDR no later than 1994, and nothing was said about the withdrawal of foreign troops from the territory of Germany. The fact is that since 1968 to this day, American troops have been in Germany solely on the basis of the NATO Charter. But the Soviet troops remained On the territory of the GDR, even after the collapse of the USSR, until 1994. By the way, the largest foreign contingent of American soldiers today deployed In Japan, which also Legally was under the occupation of the United States from 1945 to 1951.
Thus, the presence of US troops or other NATO members in Germany does not mean infringement of Germany’s sovereignty or its occupation, since the United States does not have military control over its territory. The termination of the occupying status of Germany, which, according to Putin, has not yet been issued, was signed back in 1954 and entered into force a year later. And in 1990, the United States, together with the USSR, France and Great Britain, signed an agreement that legally returned to Germany full control over the united territory.
Image on the cover: Theelocal.de
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