AUrged by Ukraine and many NATO partners, the German government is giving up its refusal to supply arms to Ukraine. Kiev is to receive 1,000 anti-tank weapons and 500 “Stinger” surface-to-air missiles from the Bundeswehr stocks. The weapons would be “delivered to Ukraine as soon as possible,” according to a statement by the federal government on Saturday evening.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) said: “The Russian attack on Ukraine marks a turning point. It threatens our entire post-war order. In this situation, it is our duty to do our best to help Ukraine defend itself against Vladimir Putin’s invading army. Germany stands close to Ukraine.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was pleased with the announced delivery of German weapons. “Germany has just announced the delivery of anti-tank grenade launchers and Stinger missiles to Ukraine. Keep it up, Chancellor Olaf Scholz,” Zelenskyj wrote on Twitter on Saturday evening. “The Anti-War Coalition Acts!”
As the FAZ learned, on Saturday Berlin had already given other countries permission to deliver weapons originally from Germany to Ukraine. The delivery of 400 German-made bazookas was approved by the Netherlands.
“Need a targeted and functional restriction of SWIFT”
In addition, Estonia received the long-awaited permission from Berlin to supply the Ukraine with self-propelled howitzers, which still come from the stocks of the National People’s Army of the GDR. The Federal Republic had initially sold the howitzers to Finland in the 1990s. The federal government had already confirmed in January that there was a request from Estonia that was being examined.
The export of 14 special armored vehicles for Ukraine was also approved on Saturday. The vehicles are used for personal protection, if necessary also for evacuation purposes. They are to be handed over to Ukrainian authorities. In addition, according to FAZ information, up to 10,000 tons of fuel are to be delivered to Ukraine via Poland.
The procedure was coordinated on Saturday between the Federal Chancellery, the Foreign Office, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Ministry of Defense.
At the security conference in Munich a week ago, Scholz and Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) presented the federal government’s position as a well thought-out part of an alleged division of labor in the alliance. However, it was learned that Minister Christine Lambrecht (SPD), at least in the Defense Ministry, had tried to break through the blockade of the Chancellery and Foreign Office against support for Ukraine. It had always been said there in private that, in the event of war, it was pointless to prolong an already hopeless fight by supplying arms. Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) had taken this stance for many years before Scholz.
Even before Chancellor Scholz made his statement, Baerbock and Vice-Chancellor Robert Habeck (both Green) had explained the Federal Government’s change of course: “After Russia’s shameless attack, Ukraine must be able to defend itself. She has an inalienable right to self-defence.”
As late as Saturday morning, the chair of the defense committee, FDP politician Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, argued that arms deliveries were out of the question because of the Bundeswehr’s shortage of materials. The Bundeswehr should not be “pulled” or the army would not be able to fulfill its own tasks, such as national defense, said the FDP politician on Deutschlandfunk. The Union, especially the deputy parliamentary group leader Johann Wadephul (CDU), had been urging the federal government to correct its position for days.
Baerbock and Habeck also announced that Berlin was reconsidering its opposition to Russia being excluded from the SWIFT financial service, without which most international financial transactions are hardly possible. They said: “At the same time, we are working flat out on how to limit the collateral damage of decoupling from SWIFT so that it affects the right people. What we need is a targeted and functional restriction of SWIFT.” The Chancellor’s statement initially contained no information about a new course at SWIFT.