"It was clear from the start...": Ring exchange with Poland falters - Baerbock rejects allegations from Warsaw
Created: 07/24/2022, 06:32
By: Christina Denk
Poland accuses Germany of deceptive maneuvers for the planned ring exchange of tanks.
Foreign Minister Baerbock reacted clearly.
But the government does not seem to agree on how to proceed.
Update from July 23, 1:27 p.m .:
The Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak has again criticized the exchange of rings.
The German government recently submitted an offer to Warsaw for the delivery of 20 Leopard 2A4 tanks, the politician said in an excerpt of an interview published by the news portal wPolityce.pl on Saturday.
He complained that it would take around 12 months to get the tanks into working order.
In addition, the Polish side is counting on at least one tank battalion, which must include 44 tracked vehicles.
Blaszczak left open how the negotiations will continue.
Ring exchange in the Ukraine war: the project seems to be faltering
First report from July 23, 11:30 a.m.:
Berlin – tanks from Germany to Poland and tanks from Poland to Ukraine: With this ring exchange, Germany is actually aiming to support Ukraine in the fight against Vladimir Putin’s war of aggression.
But the deal now seems to be faltering.
Poland accuses the German government of deceptive maneuvers.
An accusation that Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock sharply denies.
Ring exchange in the Ukraine war: Poland describes German promises as "deceptive manoeuvres"
"The German promises to swap tank rings have turned out to be deceptive maneuvers," Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Szymon Szynkowski vel Sek told
Spiegel
magazine .
The plan was for Poland to get replacements from allies like Germany for Soviet-designed tanks it left to Ukraine after the invasion.
In this way, Ukraine can quickly obtain and use heavy military equipment without extensive training.
Poland delivered the tanks shortly after the escalation of the Ukraine war.
According to the country, there were more than 200 old but functional tanks,
Spiegel
reports .
So far, Poland has been dissatisfied with the German result.
First, the Germans offered tanks "older than those we gave to Ukraine."
This offer was "not to be accepted because we have no interest in deteriorating the condition of our armament and in training our soldiers on equipment from the 1960s".
They are now relying on help from other NATO partners, reports the dpa.
Ukraine-News: Baerbock rejects ring exchange allegations from Poland
Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has admitted that the exchange of rings is going differently than planned.
However, she clearly
rejected the accusation of deception in the format "The Right Questions" of the
picture .
"In a situation like this, nobody deceives their European neighbors," said the Green politician.
"It was clear from the start that we wouldn't be able to replace every single tank overnight, of course, with a snap of our fingers," Baerbock replied to the allegations from Poland in the Ukraine war.
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It was clear from the start that we wouldn't be able to replace every single tank overnight with a snap of our fingers.
Annalena Baerbock, Foreign Minister, reacts to allegations of cheating from Poland about the exchange of rings.
The exchange of rings appeared to be "the best and fastest means" at the time of the agreement.
In war, however, one does not always know directly what the perfect way is.
The situation is unsatisfactory for both sides.
Baerbock does not rule out the deal failing and wants to look for alternatives in this case.
The federal government is examining why the ring exchange "obviously does not happen and whether we then have to provide other support," said Baerbock in the
image format
.
Annalena Baerbock considers the ring exchange with Poland to fail (archive photo mid-July 2022).
© Christophe Gateau//dpa
Ukrainian news: ring exchange or direct delivery?
— Federal government seems at odds
The federal government seems to be divided on the course of the ring exchange: Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht (SPD) also defended the tank exchange on Thursday (July 21).
It is important for the government to fill in the gaps.
However, that cannot happen overnight.
The FDP sees it differently: The chairwoman of the defense committee, Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann (FDP), spoke in favor of direct tank deliveries to Ukraine instead of ring exchange.
"We must then also have the courage to admit that things are not working the way we had imagined, and should instead deliver directly to the Ukraine," says Strack-Zimmermann.
Ukrainian soldiers have now "proven how quickly they can learn and use new equipment".
In June, the federal government published a list of the weapons that had already been delivered.
In addition to Poland, ring swap deals were also agreed with the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia and Greece.
The current military developments in the Ukraine war can be read in the news ticker.
(chd/dpa/AFP)
