“No threat to Russia”
Britain supplies anti-tank weapons to Ukraine
01/18/2022 02:32 am
Federal Foreign Minister Baerbock rejects Ukraine’s request for arms deliveries from Germany. In return, the country is now getting armaments from Great Britain. The British Defense Minister says the first anti-tank systems have already been delivered.
Britain is supplying arms to Ukraine amid fears of a Russian attack on Ukraine. “We have decided to supply Ukraine with light defensive anti-tank weapons,” British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace told Parliament on Monday evening. The first units have already arrived in Ukraine.
Wallace said in Parliament that a small number of British army personnel should train Ukrainian personnel on the weapon system for a short period. The minister did not provide any information on the type or number of weapons supplied. All he said was that “they are not strategic weapons and they pose no threat to Russia. They are intended for self-defense.” The weapons would only have a short range.
During his first visit to Spain, Chancellor Olaf Scholz expressed his concern about the concentration of Russian troops in front of the Ukrainian border. Russia will pay a “high price” if it takes military action against the neighboring country, he warned. “One should not overlook the troop movements. They are massive and a threat to Ukraine’s sovereignty.”
Sanctions against Russian banks possible
The “Handelsblatt” reports that talks between Europe and the USA are aimed at sanctions against major Russian banks. In German government circles, however, it was denied that the idea of disconnecting Russian banks from the Swift payment system and thus from global financial flows was off the table. According to the report, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is due to visit Europe later this week because of the sanctions. On Thursday he was in Berlin and wanted to meet Scholz.
Relations between Russia and the West are at a low point. Russia has massed around 100,000 soldiers on the border with Ukraine. Soldiers are also being transferred to Belarus. The West fears an invasion, which the government in Moscow rejects. Instead, Russia is concerned with security guarantees. Among other things, the government in Moscow is demanding a commitment from NATO that Ukraine will not be included in the military alliance. The Alliance rejects this.
The West, in turn, is demanding an immediate withdrawal of Russian troops from the border area. “Diplomacy is the only viable way to defuse the current highly dangerous situation,” said Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock during her first visit to Kiev. The Normandy format must get going again. It includes Germany, Ukraine, France and Russia. In 2015, the four states agreed on the Minsk Agreement, which is intended to bring peace to eastern Ukraine. The Ukrainian army and pro-Russian separatists have been facing each other there for years.