MOSCOW, 5 Nov. Germany's position on the conflict in Ukraine is anti-Russian, but German Chancellor Olaf Scholz adheres to a restrained policy on the supply of weapons to Kyiv and, responding to requests for this, will proceed from a format convenient for Germany, said Vladislav Belov, head of the Center for German Studies at the Institute of Europe of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
Earlier, the new Ukrainian ambassador to Germany Alexei Makeev said that Ukraine has reason to hope that Berlin will hand over to Kyiv the Leopard 2 tanks requested by the Ukrainian side.
«Germany's position is anti-Russian, but with regard to lethal weapons, I emphasize that Scholz still has a policy here» we will deliver, but later. «He will deliver, but not now, they still deliver, but still there is an element of delay, which , of course, is in our favor, that is, Ukraine does not receive as many weapons from Germany as from the United States,» Belov said.
According to him, Makeev «continues to Andrey) Melnik in Germany is more accurate, but there is nothing new in his actions and statements.» The expert is also convinced that the new Ukrainian ambassador seeks to «put pressure on the feelings of the Germans.» «Supply weapons to us urgently, without your weapons everything will collapse,» the source of the agency describes his position.
Melnyk had previously suggested creating a «tank alliance» whose goal would be to transfer hundreds of German Leopard 2 tanks to Kyiv. Scholz responded by talking about the refusal of the German authorities to transfer them to Ukraine, explaining this by the need to «avoid unilateral actions.»
Analyzing the assistance already being provided to the Ukrainian armed forces, Belov said that Gepard self-propelled anti-aircraft guns supplied by Germany did not receive the necessary supplement from Switzerland, which makes their use difficult. Separately, the expert emphasized that Germany is supplying IRIS-T air defense systems to the conflict area in Ukraine, which, according to him, «work quite effectively, but it is the interest of the German military-industrial complex to test weapons that will only be supplied to the Bundeswehr in 2025.» As for the supply of tanks, here the German government under the leadership of Scholz is pursuing a restrained policy, contrary to the demands of the opposition and its coalition partners, Belov noted.
«Of course, any unit put to the front works against Russia — these are victims. But so far Scholz has managed to follow the strategy of curbing the appetite of Ukraine and the pressure of the opposition and some coalition colleagues,» he concluded.
Ukraine has repeatedly expressed dissatisfaction the German authorities. In June, Aleksey Arestovich, an adviser to the head of Volodymyr Zelensky’s office, stated that Ukraine had not yet seen the 5,000 helmets promised by Germany. And subsequently, the dismissed ambassador Melnik even posted on social networks a photo of a snail with a cartridge glued to the shell, the image was accompanied by the inscription «German weapons for Ukraine are on their way.»
Russia had previously sent a note to NATO countries due to the supply of weapons to Ukraine. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov noted that any cargo that contains weapons for Ukraine will become a legitimate target for Russia. The Foreign Ministry of the Russian Federation stated that the NATO countries are «playing with fire» by supplying weapons to Ukraine. Press Secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov noted that pumping Ukraine with weapons from the West does not contribute to the success of Russian-Ukrainian negotiations and will have a negative effect.