Thanks But No Tanks: Bundestag Lawmaker Reveals Why Berlin Isn’t Sending Heavy Armor to Ukraine

The US ambassador to Germany, the European Commission, and Ukraine’s foreign minister have pressured Olaf Scholz’s government to “take a greater leadership role” in the Ukraine crisis, with German media reporting Thursday that the Biden administration is starting to doubt the chancellor’s political “reliability.”

Ukraine’s Western partners, including Germany, cannot simply hand over their main battle tanks to Kiev because of bureaucratic red tape, Lars Klingbeil, co-chairman of Chancellor Scholz’s governing German Social Democratic Party (SPD), has explained.

“There is a decision with allies that no country is supplying Western-style battle tanks right now,” Klingbeil said, speaking at a party event in Oldenburg, northwestern Germany, his remarks cited by ARD.

The lawmaker called for continued “daily monitoring” of the situation in Ukraine by the government to determine to “what is the next step we can take.”

Germany’s allies have called on the European economic giant to take more of an independent role in supplying Kiev with heavy weapons, with sources in US government circles telling Welt on Thursday that Washington doesn’t want to have to “push and shove” Berlin forward every step of the way.

Chancellor Scholz has expressed hesitation in delivering stocks of Marder infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs) and Leopard main battle tanks to Kiev, telling reporters Monday that Berlin would not “go it alone” on arms deliveries without consulting and coordinating with its allies.

Last week, German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht cast doubt on weapons transfers to Kiev, saying Germany had “reached a limit” on the matter and was now looking to find other ways to support Kiev. This week, the minister emphasized that “no country” has sent Western tanks to Ukraine.

In addition to pressure from the US, Berlin has faced prodding from Brussels and Kiev, with former German Defense Minister-turned-European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen visiting Kiev on Wednesday and announcing that if the Ukrainians “say they need battle tanks, then we should take it seriously and deliver [them] to them.”

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba blasted Berlin over its “disappointing signals” on Leopards and Marders in a Twitter rant on Tuesday, claiming that there wasn’t “a single rational argument on why these weapons cannot be supplied, only abstract fears and excuses.”

Scholz and the SPD have taken flak on the tanks issue even from within their own coalition, with Bundestag lawmaker Anton Hofreiter, a member of the Green Party, urging Berlin to “stop hiding behind other countries” on the matter and suggesting that “sooner or later we will not be able to avoid supplying modern, Western main battle tanks to Ukraine.”

Russia has urged Germany and other Western countries to halt arms deliveries to Kiev, pointing to the danger they pose in escalating the crisis, saying they set the stage for future conflicts, and warning that they facilitate lucrative weapons smuggling operations by criminal groups.

According to Welt’s US sources, Washington is concerned about whether Berlin will be able to withstand the public pressure stemming from the energy crisis pummeling the German economy, particularly as winter sets in. Germany’s highly industrialized, energy-intensive economy has already been hit hard by the EU’s self-inflicted energy crisis, and voices calling for Russian energy pipelines frozen by sanctions and other restrictions to be turned back on are growing.