“Barbock also criticized previous German governments for what she believed to be a failure to heed warnings about the Kremlin’s aggressive intentions”, — write: www.radiosvoboda.org
“Germany as a whole is currently not seen as a driving force for peace policy in Europe, and frankly, it hurts me,” Berbock emphasized. Even now, during the election campaign, some put the national perspective first – or how to get a few votes quickly in the parliamentary elections – instead of taking real responsibility for ensuring peace and freedom in Europe.”
Burbok, who pushed for a 3 billion euro aid package for Ukraine, expressed concern that her government was losing the trust of its European allies.
“This trust must not be undermined again by hesitations that could make other countries worry that Germany will not support them,” she said.
Barbock also criticized previous German governments for what she believed to be a failure to heed warnings about the Kremlin’s aggressive intentions. In particular, she criticized the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) led by former Chancellor Angela Merkel and the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) for the construction of the controversial Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline between Russia and Germany.
Earlier, the German publication Der Spiegel wrote that the head of the German Foreign Ministry, Annalena Burbok, and the Minister of Defense, Boris Pistorius, offered to allocate an additional three billion euros for urgent military aid to Ukraine, but the administration of Chancellor Olaf Scholz is blocking the initiative.
Later, Pistorius assured that “there is no blockade. We at the Ministry of Defense have prepared a new aid package for Ukraine. But the internal process of coordination in the government of Germany is not yet complete.”
The Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper obtained documents from the defense ministry with a specific list of planned aid. It includes three Iris-T SLS/SLM air defense systems, guided missiles for them and for the Patriot air defense system, three Skyranger air defense systems, 30 thousand artillery ammunition, 20 armored vehicles, 10 howitzers and 50 million euros for the purchase of drones.
According to the publication, the chancellor’s administration believes that assistance to Ukraine is currently being implemented according to plan. Kyiv can also buy weapons itself from an aid package worth 50 billion euros previously provided by Western partners. The following aid packages are to be discussed by the German government, which will come to power after the elections on February 23.
In December of last year, the Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal reported that Germany’s total aid to Ukraine amounted to 37 billion euros. This is the largest among all European countries.