German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will appoint Boris Pistorius, the long-serving interior minister of Lower Saxony, to replace Christine Lambrecht as minister of defense, the government confirmed Tuesday morning. The Social Democrat Pistorius, 62, will receive his mandate on Thursday. The appointment comes within a day of predecessor Lambrecht’s resignation, tendered amid intense media scrutiny and escalating pressure over Germany’s response to the war in Ukraine. “The focus from the media over months on my person hardly allows for objective reporting and discussion about the soldiers, the armed forces and the course for security policy in the interest of Germany’s citizens,” Lambrecht said on Monday.