“Especially in the current situation, it would mean that we would open a door that we might no longer be able to close,” said on Sunday in an interview with the ZDF program “Berlin direct”. “It’s about holding diplomatic talks with the Russian side on how we can avert war in the middle of Europe.” He believes that arms deliveries would be “a completely wrong signal”.
Klingbeil made it clear that he was also critical of Estonia’s application for the transfer of artillery pieces from old GDR stocks to the Ukraine. “I don’t believe in arms deliveries to crisis areas, no matter what country they come from,” he said when asked. Estonia wants to give nine howitzers to Ukraine – but the country has undertaken to obtain Germany’s consent before passing them on to third parties.
In view of a massive Russian troop deployment near Ukraine, there are fears in the West that the Kremlin could be planning an invasion of the neighboring country – Moscow denies this.
When asked about former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder’s (SPD) controversial criticism of Ukraine, Klingbeil emphasized that the current escalation, from the party leadership’s point of view, is coming from Russia. “We take what’s happening there very seriously.” This is a dramatic situation in the middle of Europe. “We say very clearly as the party leadership, and the Chancellor also emphasized this: The escalation that we are currently experiencing is coming from Russia.” He added: “We’re happy to take advice and it’s perfectly fine for others to join the debate. But those who are responsible for the party are clear and unequivocal.”
Schröder had defended the German refusal to deliver arms to Ukraine and had clearly rejected Ukrainian criticism. “I really hope that the saber-rattling in Ukraine will finally stop,” he said on the podcast “The Agenda”. “Because what I have to hear there, including the accusations against Germany, because of the reasonable cancellation of arms deliveries, that sometimes knocks the bottom out of the barrel.”