At what point in arms deliveries does Russia see other states entering the war? The question is not only of concern to the public in Europe – it is also being considered at NATO.
According to information from the German Press Agency, there are informal agreements among the NATO states to refrain from delivering certain weapon systems to Ukraine.
As the dpa was confirmed in alliance circles in Brussels on Wednesday, the risk of a direct military confrontation between NATO states and Russia should be kept as low as possible. It is feared, for example, that Russia could officially see the delivery of Western battle tanks and combat aircraft as entering the war and then take military retaliatory measures. Weapon systems of this type have not yet been delivered to Ukraine.
In Germany, statements by the Parliamentary State Secretary in the Ministry of Defense, Siemtje Möller (SPD), had recently caused discussions. She said on Sunday in the ZDF program “Berlin direct” about arms deliveries that it was recorded within NATO “that no armored personnel carriers or battle tanks of Western models were delivered”.
Union parliamentary group leader Johann Wadephul (CDU) then criticized on Wednesday that the federal government had not mentioned such an agreement during the deliberations in the Bundestag on the delivery of heavy weapons. “Either it is due to a scandalous incompetence coupled with sloppiness and ignorance. Or, and that would be a veritable scandal, the German Bundestag and the public are being led behind the spruce with ever new pseudo-justifications in order to camouflage a systematic delay strategy,” he told the “Focus Online” portal.
