Germany seeks a “third way” to supply tanks to Ukraine

Germany is seeking formulas, via third countries, to deal with the demands for heavy weapons urgently needed by Kiev, amid internal and external criticism of Foreign Minister Olaf Scholz for his administration in the face of the Ukrainian war.

Until now, Berlin insisted that it could not supply Ukraine with the armored vehicles required of it, nor with the precise immediacy, since the Bundeswehr (Federal Army) itself does not have any reserves. “Doing so would not be able to guarantee its operability or respond to its defensive commitments to NATO,” Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht said even today.

A few hours after making these claims to the television channel ntv, the head of Defence, of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) of Scholz, appeared again to point to an exchange through a third partner as a way to resolve the dilemma.

The idea is for that country - presumably Slovenia - to hand over Soviet-made weapons to Kiev and that Berlin, for its part, lend that country of the Atlantic Alliance “Marder” or “Fuchs” tanks produced in Germany to that country.

Lambrecht called this variant an “exchange”, which will expedite deliveries, strengthen Ukraine in the face of the Russian offensive, and, moreover, will not weaken NATO's defensive capacity.

Ukraine had been demanding much more from Germany than the purely defensive supplies that Berlin, like other NATO allies, has delivered so far. While Scholz took cover in the scarcity of resources in his army, his government partners, the Greens and Liberals, insisted that Kiev cannot wait.

Especially harsh were the statements of the green deputy Anton Hofreiter, chairman of the foreign committee, and the liberal Marie Agnes Strack-Zimmer, president of the Defense Department, returning from a trip to Kiev, reproaching Scholz for her inaction.

The problem “lies with the Foreign Ministry,” Hofreiter said, according to which there is no reason to prevent such supplies. Scholz must “break his silence” and explain “at once” what he is willing to do, added the liberal MP.

A lethargic chancellery

In addition to the reproaches of these two deputies from the coalition ranks were the well-known positions of the two most prominent ministers among the Greens - the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Annalena Baerbock, and that of Economy, Robert Habeck, with the rank of deputy chancellor.

Habeck had been defending arms supplies to Ukraine since before he entered the government, against the positions of the most eco-pacifist wing of his party; Baerbock had been betting on the critical path towards Moscow also since his time in the opposition.

Both green ministers had their positions ratified no later than the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In the wake of the aggression, Scholz announced a radical shift in defence policy - with a 100 billion euro investment programme to update the Bundeswehr and a 1 billion military aid to Ukraine. But it has not come to translate those plans into reality.

Criticism of Scholz from the ranks has turned into furious attacks from the conservative opposition, which does not miss the opportunity to recall on a daily basis the relationship of “complicity” between the Foreign Minister's Social Democratic Party (SPD) and President Vladimir Putin's Russia.

Not only are they attacking Scholz's slowness, but also the energy dependence inherited from the agreement between former Social Democratic Chancellor Gerhard Schröder and Putin. The Nord Stream gas pipeline, the key to this dependency, emerged in 2005 from the relationship of friendship or alliance of interests.

The conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) is cautious there. Not only because dependence was amplified in Angela Merkel's 16 years in power, but also because as much or more friend of Putin than Schröder were the successive leaders of his twinned Bavarian Social Christian Union (CSU), who for years have paid the same devotion to the leader of the Kremlin as the Hungarian ultra-conservative Viktor Orbán.

Baltic and Polish pressure

“For Germany, there are no taboos in supplies to Ukraine,” Baerbock said today from Estonia, the second station of his tour of the Baltics. The Foreign Minister's visit seems to be the result of an attempt to calm the spirits before these NATO and EU allies who, like Poland, represent unconditional support for Ukraine.

From Warsaw, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki indicated his willingness to “contact” Scholz to “explain” to him the need for a swift turn to his Defense policy, given the evidence, he said, that Ukraine cannot wait.

(With information from EFE)

Keep reading: