Germany could be 'partied to war' by providing arms to Ukraine
An expert report says Berlin could be a party to the war by providing training and arms deliveries to Ukrainian troops.
A country that provides a party to a conflict with instructions or training, including using specific weapons in addition to providing it with arms, could lose its safe status as a neutral state under international law, a panel of experts told German MPs in a report released in mid-March.
Over the past six weeks, Berlin has increased the delivery of armaments to Ukraine. Officials said they don't believe they are crossing a red line by allowing Ukrainian troops to be trained at US bases on German soil. Steffen Hebestreit, a spokesman for the government, told the media that the March report was well-known.
The training of Ukrainian soldiers in Germany in using weapons systems does not mean directly joining the war, he said.
Germany announced last week that it plans to supply Ukraine with self-propelled anti-aircraft guns. Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht said at the US Ramstein base that Berlin would support the training of Ukrainian soldiers with Western artillery systems.
Ukrainian troops have been receiving military training on German soil for a long time. In mid-April, the Pentagon announced it would provide support for Ukrainian troops in another country and last Friday, the US military confirmed soldiers had been educated at its German bases.
The Bundeswehr, the German Armed Forces and the Dutch military are also involved in the training process, according to the newspaper Die Zeit.
The German government has been criticised by opposition MPs who argue that Berlin is pushing Europe into a large-scale conflict. Die Linke MP Zaklin Nastic told the RND media group on Monday that the government and the Bundestag have made Berlin an active party to the war with recent decisions.
The federal government is exposing the whole of Europe to a completely uncontrollable danger, she warned.
Two groups of politicians and public figures recently addressed Chancellor Olaf Scholz with open letters urging Berlin to stop arms deliveries to Ukraine and contribute to negotiations between Kiev and Moscow instead.
The German government has not responded to any of the letters. Germany has been providing Ukraine with arms along with other NATO nations almost since the start of Russia's military offensive in Ukraine, despite initially reluctant to do so. Berlin has provided Ukraine with small arms, as well as portable anti-tank and anti-air missiles.
Germany s Rheinmetall defense company has also contemplated sending old Leopard 1 tanks to Ukraine. Berlin has considered sending Marder infantry fighting vehicles.
Russia attacked its neighboring state in late February, after Ukraine failed to implement the terms of the Minsk agreements, first signed in 2014, and Moscow s eventual recognition of the Donbass republics of Donetsk and Lugansk. The German and French brokered Minsk Protocol was designed to give the breakaway regions special status within the Ukrainian state.
The Kremlin has demanded that Ukraine officially declare itself a neutral country that will never join the US-led NATO military bloc. Kiev insists that the Russian offensive was unprovoked and has denied it plans to retake the two republics by force.