Germany will not “oppose” Poland’s desire to deliver Leopard tanks to Ukraine, which is insistently demanding them, if Warsaw asks for permission, the head of German diplomacy said on Sunday. Annalena Baerbock.
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“If we were asked the question, we would not oppose it,” declared the minister of the Greens party, which governs in coalition with the Social Democrats of Olaf Scholz and the Liberals about the delivery to Kyiv of these German-made tanks.
“For now, the question has not been asked” by Poland, required to make an official request to Berlin, said the minister, interviewed in Paris on the French channel LCI.
In an interview on German television ARD, the German Defense Minister, Boris Pistorius, said for his part almost at the same time that “the decision (…) depends on many factors and is taken at the chancellery”.
Pistorius, a Social Democrat like Chancellor Scholz, was not questioned by the journalist about Ms Baerbock’s statements.
The German government is under increasing pressure to supply Ukraine with Leopard heavy tanks, which could have a significant impact on the battlefield against Russian troops.
“I understood how important these tanks are, we are fully aware of that,” added Ms. Baerbock.
Poland and Finland have offered to deliver Leopards that they own, but need official approval from Berlin for re-export.
However, Olaf Scholz has so far refused to comment on the question of these indirect deliveries, just like on that of directly supplying Leopards from German stocks.
Again questioned on the question on Sunday in Paris, during a press conference alongside Emmanuel Macron, the Chancellor was evasive, repeating the need to act in consultation with the allies of Ukraine on the questions arms delivery.
It is not the first time that the Green ministers of the government, in particular Ms Baerbock, have taken a more proactive line than the Chancellor on the subject of military support for Ukraine.
Several figures of environmentalists have insisted, in recent weeks, that Olaf Scholz approves the deliveries of tanks to Kyiv.
At a meeting on Friday at the US Ramstein base in Germany, Ukraine’s Western allies pushed back on any decision on the matter, arousing the irritation of Kyiv which criticized their “indecision”.