Sticking to its guns: Why Germany is refusing to arm Ukraine even if it upsets allies

There is bewilderment – and criticism – from Ukraine and its allies over Germany’s stance to requests from Kiev for arms, but Berlin is standing firm, reports Erik Kirschbaum

A Ukrainian soldier stands at the line of separation from pro-Russian rebels, in the Donetsk region (AP)

Germany is the world’s fourth largest exporter of weapons, selling state-of-the-art arms worth billions of dollars to countries with questionable human rights records such as Qatar and Saudi Arabia without batting an eye.

Yet Nato’s second largest country has turned a deaf ear to increasingly urgent requests from Ukraine for defensive weapons even though most other nations in the north Atlantic alliance are rushing material to the threatened eastern Europe country, which is braced for a possible attack from its powerful neighbour Russia.

Due in part to its shame and the lessons learned from starting two world wars and the dark legacy of mercenary arms makers like Krupp that once so happily sold deadly weapons to all, Germany has long had a strong desire to be seen as a global peacemaker and it fancies itself for placing strict controls on the arms it exports.

Curiously, Germany nevertheless readily sells its tanks, submarines, missiles, munitions and rifles to countries such as Greece, Brazil, South Korea, India, Turkey, Singapore and Egypt, as well as Qatar and Saudi Arabia. Last year it sold arms worth nearly €10bn (£8.3bn), putting it behind only the United States, Russia and France as the world’s fourth largest exporter.

Included in that total were three warships and 16 air defence systems worth nearly €5bn (£4bn) to Egypt in the final weeks of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s long rule.

The new leader Chancellor Olaf Scholz has made it clear to Ukraine, which is less than 1,000 miles from the German border, that it would not join other Nato nations in providing defensive weapons. Instead, it has sent its best wishes and calls for peace along with a field medical facility.

“For many years, the German government has been pursuing a unified strategy on this question – and that includes not exporting lethal weapons,” Mr Scholz said in Berlin last week at a news conference with Nato general secretary Jens Stoltenberg.

Defence minister Christine Lambrecht echoed Mr Scholz in a newspaper interview on Sunday, saying: “We have to do everything to de-escalate the situation. In the current environment, arms supplies would not be helpful for that and that’s the position the German government agrees on.”

She added: “I can understand the desire to support Ukraine and that’s exactly what we are doing already.”

The pressure on Germany to move beyond the hollow words and to contribute arms to Ukraine to defend itself grew further on Monday after Ukraine’s ambassador Andrij Melnyk asked Germany point blank to do more. He said Ukraine urgently needed 100,000 helmets and protective vests for volunteers who are now signing up to defend the country along with regular armed forces.

“The seriousness of the situation demands an immediate rethink and change of course on arms deliveries to Ukraine from the German government,” Mr Melnyk said in an interview with the Handelsblatt newspaper. “We won’t rest in trying to convince the German government to deliver defensive weapons to Ukraine.”

Kiev mayor Vitali Klitschko, a former heavyweight boxing champion who remains popular in Germany, threw his weight into the ring as well, saying it was hard to understand why the country he called his home during his boxing career was turning its back on Ukraine in its moment of need.

“This is a negligent failure to help and betrayal of a friend in a dramatic situation in which our country is threatened by Russian troops on many borders,” Mr Klitschko wrote in a guest editorial for Bild on Monday. “I lived in Germany for a long time and that’s why it hurts me to see how the (Vladimir) Putin sympathisers are in control.”

German chancellor Olaf Scholz speaks during a video conference with allies in response to the situation in and around Ukraine (EPA)

On Tuesday, the Polish prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, joined the attacks: “I observe with concern the situation in Ukraine and the reactions of our neighbours from Germany in the face of the threat from Russia,” he wrote in a Facebook post.

The German government has also confirmed that it has held up other Nato countries, such as Estonia, from supplying Ukraine with howitzers made in Germany by so far declining to issue necessary export permits to the anguish of the Ukrainian government.

Dmytro Kubela, Ukraine’s foreign minister, went a step further, criticising Germany for not only failing to contribute to his country’s defence but also blocking other Nato partners from sending German-made weapons to Ukraine.

“We are disappointed with Germany’s continued refusal to allow the supply of defensive weapons to Ukraine, especially in the current situation,” Mr Kuleba said in a newspaper interview. “We would be even more disappointed if Germany not only refused to supply us with defensive weapons but also prevented others from doing so.”

Germany’s reputation in Ukraine took a further blow on the weekend when its navy chief vice admiral Kay-Achim Schonbach resigned under pressure for ill-timed remarks saying in a speech that Mr Putin deserved respect and that Ukraine would never win back Crimea, which was annexed by Russia in 2014.