NVA-weapons for Ukraine
Estonia still hopes for howitzer release
02/10/2022 07:09 AM
With nine old howitzers from the stocks of the GDR army, Estonia wants to equip Ukraine for a possible Russian attack – but this requires the approval of Berlin. The question has become a symbol of the struggle for the right way to deal with Putin. Today Scholz meets the Baltic states.
Estonia is still waiting for a response from the federal government to its request for a permit for the supply of artillery guns to Ukraine. “We do not yet have an official response from Germany regarding the howitzers,” said Head of Government Kajas Kallas before her visit to Germany.
Estonia wants to give nine howitzers from old GDR stocks to Ukraine. However, the EU and NATO member has undertaken to obtain Germany’s consent before passing it on to third parties. This is necessary because the weapons were first sold to Finland with conditions and then later given to Estonia from there.
“It is up to each country to decide what kind of assistance it wants to offer Ukraine. We consider it very important to help Ukraine in every possible way,” Kallas said. “Estonia is ready to provide weapons and ammunition to help Ukraine, in cooperation with our allies, defend itself against Russian aggression.”
Kallas, together with her Latvian colleague Krisjanis Karins and Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda, is expected in Berlin on Thursday for talks with Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz. It will focus in particular on the Ukraine crisis and the security situation in Eastern Europe.
Talks in Normandy format again
The former Soviet republics of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, along with Poland, are among the EU states bordering Russia. They therefore feel particularly threatened by the powerful neighbouring country. The Balts advocate a hard line towards Moscow and oppose the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia to Germany.
In addition to the Balten Summit, there will be another important meeting on the Ukraine crisis in Berlin on Thursday: the conflicting parties Russia and Ukraine will be sitting at a table for the second time since the start of the troop deployment on the Ukrainian border. The foreign policy advisers of the two presidents meet with their colleagues from Germany and France in the so-called Normandy format.
Efforts to resolve the crisis are also continuing at other levels. US President Joe Biden spoke by phone with French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday after his visits to the heads of state in Moscow and Kiev. Both spoke about ongoing diplomatic initiatives and “deterrence efforts” in close coordination with allies, the White House said.
The UK is also continuing diplomatic efforts in the Ukraine conflict. Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to meet NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in Brussels on Thursday morning and will also travel to Poland. There he wants to talk with President Andrzej Duda and Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki. Johnson travelled to Kiev last week.
Military maneuvers in Belarus and Ukraine
British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss arrived in Moscow on Wednesday for a two-day visit. After the landing, she called on Russia to immediately withdraw its troops from the Ukrainian border. “Any intrusion would be a huge mistake. Diplomacy is the only way, and Russia must follow this path,” Truss said. Her government also had 1000 more soldiers stationed in the UK put on standby “to support NATO and allies in the event of a humanitarian crisis (in the conflict region)”. On Monday, the Ministry of Defense had already announced that it would send 350 more soldiers to Poland.
In parallel with the ongoing peace efforts and diplomatic initiatives, Russia and Belarus will officially start a joint military maneuver on Thursday. The exercises, for example in the south of Belarus on the border with Ukraine, are necessary in view of the “unprecedented threat,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, according to the Interfax agency. These are not the first exercises of this kind, but they turned out to be bigger than usual this time because of the tensions with the West. In the past few days, there had already been individual maneuvers of both armies.
NATO accuses Russia of transferring about 30,000 troops to Belarus, which creates a threat against neighboring Ukraine. Moscow, on the other hand, stressed that the exercise was in accordance with international law and that the stipulated maximum number of soldiers would not be exceeded. The Russian armed forces should also leave Belarus after the end of the maneuver. At the same time as the Russian-Belarusian maneuvers, neighboring Ukraine has also announced nationwide military exercises, especially in dealing with new Western weapons.