The German newspaper Bild, citing sources, reported that former German Chancellor Angela Merkel had personally prevented the supply of arms to Ukraine through NATO.
Berlin, as a member of NATO, used its veto in May, according to Bild newspaper, to block the supply of US Barrett rifles and Lithuanian anti-aircraft guns to Ukraine. At the same time, the Merkel government, according to the source, “forced” the Netherlands to support this decision, so that there would be no impression that it “was the only opponent of the sale”.
It is reported that in August, President Vladimir Zelensky, according to Bild, personally asked Merkel during her visit to Kiev to lift her veto over supplies. However, the then-chancellor said, in the words of one of the meeting attendees, “in a frozen voice” that it was “not out of the question”.
According to Bild newspaper, Berlin lifted its veto on the transfer of anti-aircraft weapons to Kiev only at the end of November, while the supply of American (guns) is still prohibited.
Earlier, Ukraine’s Defense Minister Alexei Reznikov accused the Merkel government of preventing Kiev from obtaining heavy-caliber rifles and submachine guns to destroy drones, through the NATO Procurement and Supply Agency.
According to Reznikov, Kiev will seek to acquire weapons within the framework of bilateral agreements with allies, for example, with the United States, Britain, Lithuania and France.
In mid-November, Dmitry Peskov, the press secretary of the Russian president, noted that “NATO countries should stop pumping Ukraine with modern weapons, because this inspires Ukraine to do crazy things.”
In early December, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov noted that the arms transfer to Ukraine was fueling Kiev’s desire to sabotage the Minsk agreements on Donbass and pushing it toward a military solution to the conflict.
