Berlin Ready To Approve Supply Of German Tanks To Ukraine By Third Countries -

BERLIN (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 23rd January, 2023) Germany is ready to allow third countries to supply German-made Leopard tanks to Ukraine if any such requests are made, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said.

On Thursday, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said in an interview with Polish broadcaster Polsat that Warsaw could transfer its Leopard tanks to Ukraine without Germany's consent.

"At the moment the question has not yet been asked, but if we were asked, we would not prevent it," Baerbock told French broadcaster LCI on Sunday .

On Sunday, Germany's new defense minister, Boris Pistorius, said that Berlin might soon make a decision on the supply of Leopard tanks to Ukraine.

"The decision, I think, will be made soon, whatever it may be," Pistorius told German broadcaster ARD, when asked how long Germany is willing to put it off, risking the consequences.

The minister noted it was a matter of weighing the consequences of both a positive and negative decision.

"This is a responsibility that the government bears. It is a security issue, a request not to become a party to the conflict and at the same time a support of Ukraine in victory," Pistorius added.

Earlier in the week, Pistorius said after a contact group meeting on support for Ukraine at the US airbase Ramstein in Germany that Berlin was not yet ready to supply Leopard tanks to Ukraine, but had scheduled an inspection of this type of tank to assess a positive decision scenario in the future.

The German defense minister, who took the oath in the Bundestag on Thursday, promised to continue supplying weapons and equipment to Ukraine.

According to German newspaper Welt, Pistorius called for a review of earlier EU sanctions against Russia in 2018, arguing they damaged the country's economy and strengthened Moscow's position. Pistorius was also a member of the German-Russian Friendship Group, created in cooperation with the Russian Federation Council. According to the Lower Saxon media, he studied Russian. In 2022, he strongly criticized the Russian special operation in Ukraine.

In April 2022, Moscow sent a note to NATO member states condemning their military assistance to Kiev after Russia started its military operation in Ukraine. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that pumping Ukraine with weapons did not contribute to the success of peace negotiations and would have a detrimental effect on the conflict. The Russian Foreign Ministry has warned on numerous occasions that any cargo containing weapons for Ukraine would become a legitimate target for Russia.