German Defense Ministry rejects Bundestag proposal to supply Ukraine with more weapons
The German Defense Ministry rejected the proposal of Bundestag MPs from the ruling coalition to supply Ukraine with more weapons. “In view of the threat posed by Russia under President Vladimir Putin, Germany cannot take such risks,” DW quotes the official representative of the German Defense Ministry.
"Indeed, we must be prepared for the fact that Putin will take advantage of any weakness and even a temporary gap in NATO's defense readiness," AFP quoted him as saying. He recalled that Germany should provide its partners in the alliance with "support within the framework of obligations", as provided by Article 5 of the NATO Treaty. "During the Cold War, we probably wouldn't have understood if our allies had reduced their collective defenses because of the situation in different theaters of operations — and there are such in the world," the military spokesman added.
In a joint article for Der Spiegel, Social Democrat Kristian Klinck, Alliance 90/The Greens representative Sara Nanni and Free Democrat Alexander Müller criticized Berlin's current position that maintaining the Bundeswehr's capacity to defend Germany and NATO takes precedence over aid to Ukraine.
The authors of the article pointed out that so far, the German government has explained the relatively small amounts of military assistance to Ukraine by the shortage of military equipment in the German army itself. "This is nothing more than an artificially created conflict of goals, as Europe's security and stability are currently protected in Ukraine," they said.