Several countries that have tanks of the Leopard 2 model want to send them to Ukraine, including Finland and Poland, but this requires permission from Germany, which built them. Germany has not yet given its approval.
– This decision is seen as something extremely dramatic. A decision that you see could change the view of NATO’s role in this war and, in the worst case, lead in the direction of a direct confrontation between NATO and Russia, says Christopher Wendick, SVT’s European correspondent in Aktuellt.
“Don’t want to be a warmonger”
Christopher Wendick says that it also has to do with the history of Germany, where it helped start the Second World War.
– You don’t want to be a warmonger.
Poland has hinted that it may send Leopard tanks without German permission. Christopher Wendick says it’s a negotiating tactic.
– Poland has been perhaps the most successful pressurer on Germany and actually got Germany to move on the arms issue in the past.
Hear Christopher Wendick, SVT’s European correspondent, tell about Germany’s waiting with Leopard 2 in the player above.