Annalena Baerbock: “We don’t know what Putin’s next step will be”
The coalition government of Social Democrats (SPD), Greens and Liberals (FDP) has agreed with the conservative opposition Christian Democrats (CDU) and Bavarian Social Christians (CSU) to present a joint motion to the Bundestag, the federal parliament , to support Ukraine with the supply of heavy weapons in the war against Russia. Local agencies indicated that the parliamentary groups of these formations agreed to present a joint proposal instead of doing it separately. CDU and CSU will finally join the motion prepared by the government tripartite after obtaining several changes in the document. The Conservatives had demanded, among other things, that the funds allocated to military aid for Ukraine be separated from the extraordinary package of 100,000 million euros that will be used to modernize the Bundeswehr, the federal army, in the coming years.
In a speech before the lower house, the federal foreign minister, the environmentalist Annalena Baerbock, defended the recent decision of the German executive to supply heavy weapons to Ukraine, despite threats of a nuclear escalation by Russia. “We are supplying at the same rate as other countries,” assured the head of German diplomacy to address those who have criticized or criticize Berlin’s reluctance when sending heavy war material to the invaded country. “There are no easy answers” to stop Russian aggression, Baerbock said, stating that “only the Russian president” can stop the war. She also asked for understanding in the face of the government’s difficulties in making decisions in “such a complex situation.” She added that Berlin “will only commit to what it can deliver” and not make media announcements with broken promises.
The head of German diplomacy reiterated that it makes no sense for Berlin to send modern German heavy weapons to Ukraine that require many months of training. Hence the commitment of the Scholz government to provide material of the type of Soviet development that Ukrainian soldiers are used to handling through swaps with NATO partners in Eastern Europe. Countries like Slovenia and Slovakia will deliver to Ukraine, among other things, Russian T-72 tanks and Germany will replace those tanks with material produced in this country. The decisive criterion is that Western support for Ukraine’s defenders is “really helpful” to them and can take advantage of them. Annalena Baerbock stressed that the consequences of such Western support are uncertain. “We do not know what Putin’s next step will be,” the minister acknowledged.
He also pointed out that, after the announcement in February that Germany would support Ukraine with military material, the federal government has maintained a policy of discretion regarding these supplies. In order to protect those supply routes, “we agreed not to talk about it so that the weapons reach their goal,” said Baerbock, who made specific reference for the first time to the type of weapons shipped so far. The minister listed thousands of anti-tank grenade launchers, dozens of Stinger-type anti-aircraft missiles and more than a thousand Strehla-type defensive rockets, as well as hundreds of thousands of hand grenades, explosive charges, anti-tank mines and artillery ammunition.
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