Are German arms deliveries halting for fear of escalation?
Ex-general sure: "Does not risk Putin"
Created: 07/22/2022, 21:58
By: Felix Durach
Apparently, German arms deliveries to Ukraine continue to falter.
Does Chancellor Scholz shy away from an escalation of the current situation by Vladimir Putin?
Berlin - In the fight against the Russian armed forces, Ukraine is still heavily dependent on the supply of modern weapons systems from the West.
But the problems seem to be increasing, especially with deliveries from Germany.
Criticism from Poland of the federal government was already voiced on Friday.
According to the accusation from Warsaw, Germany would not act on the agreements on the arms exchange.
And even with further deliveries in the Ukraine war, things seem to be anything but smooth.
War in Ukraine: Scholz is apparently hesitant to deliver the Iris-T air defense system
Among other things, Kyiv had asked Germany to deliver eleven Iris-T air defense systems.
With just one system, an entire city can be effectively protected against attacks from the air.
Unlike the ongoing discussions about the Marder infantry fighting vehicle or the past debates about the Gepard anti-aircraft tank, the Iris-T is a purely defensive weapon.
At the beginning of June, Chancellor Olaf Scholz promised Kyiv the delivery of one of the systems for "the coming weeks".
As the world
wants to know
on Sunday , not much has happened since then.
As the newspaper claims to have learned, the federal government is now not expecting delivery until the end of the year.
A corresponding application for the delivery of the anti-aircraft systems had already been submitted by Kyiv at the beginning of July.
The decision on the delivery of the systems is ultimately made by the Federal Security Council and thus also by the Chancellery.
However, Scholz has apparently been waiting for confirmation for three weeks.
The Diehl IRIS-T SLS anti-aircraft weapon system at an exhibition.
Kyiv had asked the federal government for eleven such systems.
© Wolfgang Kumm/dpa
Expert provides explanation: Scholz could fear an expansion of the war if tanks were delivered
A hesitation on the part of the Federal Chancellor can also be observed with regard to the delivery of further heavy weapons.
Above all, the traffic light government's decision to refuse delivery of the Marder infantry fighting vehicle.
Former NATO General Heinrich Brauß provided an explanation for the attitude in Berlin this week in an interview with
t-online
.
"Perhaps one fears that Western main battle tanks in a direct duel with Russian T-72s on the battlefield would be seen by Putin as a practical entry into the war by Western states and that he could then expand the war," said the expert.
In keeping with this: Scholz is said to have rejected the possible delivery of Marder armored personnel carriers to Ukraine in the Foreign Affairs Committee as a "terrible escalation".
The mirror
reported about it
.
According to a report, Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) is said to have delayed the delivery of missile defense systems to Ukraine.
© Britta Pedersen/dpa
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Ex-general does not expect escalation: "Putin does not risk a war against this NATO"
Deliveries of artillery and rocket launchers could therefore be less of a problem since they are used far behind the front lines.
But does an extension of the war by the Russian president seem likely at all?
The danger of a nuclear war has recently been threatening again and again.
Dmitri Medvedev, deputy chief of the Russian Security Council, recently openly threatened the West with a third world war.
This would occur if the West contested Russia's claim to the Crimea peninsula, which had been annexed in violation of international law.
Vladimir Putin himself has often been acerbic of late, but he also reacted surprisingly calmly to the planned accession of Sweden and Finland to NATO.
"We don't have any problems with Sweden and Finland like we have with Ukraine," Putin said at a meeting in Turkmenistan at the end of June.
In any case, ex-General Brauss sees no end to the Ukraine war.
"Putin doesn't care about the suffering of his own soldiers, nor about the suffering of the Ukrainians.
He won't back down.
The war against Ukraine is the first step in his imperial strategy.” However, the former general believes it is unlikely that the war could lead to an open conflict with NATO.
“Putin does not risk a war against this NATO.
Because he would lose it, and that would mean the end of his regime," according to the expert.
(fd/dpa)
