Scholz’s party members confuse German and Russian submarines

Two Social Democrats have used an image of Moscow’s “Project 636” vessel during the election campaign

Two members of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s party have made a mistake while campaigning for the upcoming federal election, confusing a German submarine with a Russian one.

Christina Schubert, a Bundestag candidate from the port city of Kiel, and lawmaker Kristian Klinck, who was born in the same city – both from the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) – shared a post on Instagram over the weekend, hailing parliament’s recent approval of the purchase of German-made Type 212CD submarines.

However, instead of the German vessel, the post featured a Russian Kilo-class submarine (“Project 636”).

The mistake was reported by Kiel-based publication Kieler Nachrichten on Monday, which described the post as an “embarrassing faux pas.” The post then went viral on social media.

Tabloid Bild published an equally scathing assessment on Tuesday. “Embarrassing SPD blunder – in the submarine stronghold of Kiel of all places!” it wrote. The publication pointed out that the port city is home to the headquarters of the vessel’s manufacturer, ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (TKMS), and that the company is the only German systems provider for submarines.

“Oh, my goodness. Something went wrong,” was Schubert’s response to an inquiry, Kieler Nachrichten said.

“The reason for the error was that I did not carry out a sufficiently thorough final check of the social media post,” Klinck admitted to the publication.

The original Instagram post has since been edited and the picture replaced with that of an actual 212CD submarine.

Schubert and Klinck will have a refresher course on submarines and visit the TKMS shipyard, the largest in Germany, on Wednesday, Kieler Nachrichten wrote.

Germany’s budget committee approved the purchase of four 212CD submarines in the week before Christmas in a deal worth € 4.7 billion ($4.92 billion).

The deal is part of Germany’s push to bring its defense spending in line with the NATO target of 2% of national output. The funds will come from a €100 billion special fund announced by Scholz shortly after the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022.

READ MORE: Scholz blasts drastic German defense spending hike proposal

The Russian Kilo-class submarine, designated as “Project 636,” is a series of diesel-electric attack submarines developed in St. Petersburg. Renowned for their stealth capabilities, they are often referred to as “Black Holes” due to their exceptionally low acoustic signature, making them difficult to detect underwater.

Equipped with cruise missiles, the submarines are part of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet and have been actively used in the Ukraine conflict.