Germany will finally deliver arms to Ukraine. The German government, under pressure, ended up giving in to the demands of Kiew, which had been asking for arms to defend itself for months. This is a major political reversal for Berlin. The non-delivery of arms to conflict zones had been a constant in German diplomacy since the Second World War.
A reversal which is explained by this new armed conflict on European soil. The situation in Europe has changed, as Chancellor Olaf Scholz recalled yesterday, Saturday: ” The Russian aggression against Ukraine marks a change of era, it threatens the order established since the post-war period. In this situation it is our duty to help Ukraine defend itself “.
Germany will therefore finally provide Ukraine with 1,000 anti-tank rocket launchers, 500 Stinger surface-to-air missiles, several howitzers as well as 10,000 tonnes of fuel, specifies our correspondent in Berlin, Nathalie Versieux. These deliveries, as modest as they are, mark a political reversal for Berlin, which is thus responding to the vehement criticism it has been subjected to for several weeks for its refusal to export such weapons, coming both from the Ukrainian authorities and also from EU partners such as the Baltic States or Poland. In Germany itself, the pacifist consensus of public opinion had begun to split since the Russian army forced the borders of Ukraine.
The German government also announced the shipment to Ukraine of 14 armored vehicles as well as 10,000 tons of fuel “via Poland”. “Other support measures are currently being studied,” said the government source. “After the shameful attack by Russia, Ukraine must defend itself,” said the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Annalena Baerbock.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky hailed the German decision. “Keep it up, Olaf Scholz! The anti-war coalition in action! “, he tweeted to the attention of the German chancellor. Germany’s hesitations to supply arms to Ukraine had been motivated by the weight of history: Annalena Baerbock had evoked history and the invasion of the Soviet Union by the Third Reich to justify the first refusals to deliver weapons. It is difficult to accept for Germans to deliver weapons which would be used to kill Russian soldiers.
The arms decision is a major political reversal for Germany, whose official position since World War II has been not to deliver “lethal” weapons to conflict zones. The restrictive policy followed by the first European economy since the post-war period in terms of arms exports has its source in the horrors of Nazism which gave birth to a pacifism deeply rooted in public opinion. This position was, however, less and less tenable politically since the outbreak of the invasion of the country by the Russian army.
There have nevertheless been exceptions, generating internal controversy such as, for example, the sale of arms to Egypt or Saudi Arabia. Germany is the fourth largest arms exporter in the world, behind the United States, Russia and France. “Germany increased its major arms exports by 21% between 2011-15 and 2016-20, representing 5.5% of the global total. The main export markets for German arms are South Korea, Algeria and Egypt,” reports the SIPRI in March 2021.
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