Germany contradicts the US and insists that the decision to send tanks to Ukraine was amicable

BERLIN, 27 Feb. (DPA/EP) -

The deputy spokesman for the German government, Wolfgang Büchner, stressed on Monday that the agreement with the United States for both countries to supply tanks to Ukraine was friendly and there was no pressure from Germany, as Washington has recently suggested. .

Thus, Büchner has defended that the talks between Berlin and Washington were "good and constructive" and both parties always agreed to send tanks to Ukraine without having to condition one supply to another, thus subscribing to the version previously given by the German authorities.

Previously, the government spokesman, Steffen Hebestreit, said that "at no time (...) was there a link or a demand that one had to take place so that the other could take place", words that Büchner has now asserted that do not even need to be qualified because "there is nothing to correct".

These statements by Büchner come after the United States National Security Adviser, Jake Sullivan, assured on Sunday during an interview that President Joe Biden had initially decided not to supply Abrams tanks because "they would not be useful" in the Ukrainian battlefield.

"What would be useful would be German tanks. A tank called the Leopard that many European countries have. But the Germans told the president that they would not be willing to send these Leopards into the fight (...) until the president also agreed to send Abrams," Sullivan recounted.

In this way, from the United States a version has been given in which it is Germany who conditioned the supplies of battle tanks, which it is true that they were released in mid-January on a day in which both Berlin and Washington announced almost simultaneously shipping their tanks.

"In the interest of alliance unity and to make sure Ukraine got what it wanted, even though the Abrams are not the tool they need, the president said, 'Okay, I'm going to be the leader of the free world. I'll send Abrams later if you send Leopard now,'" Sullivan concluded.