Where is the red line?

Photo by Kevin Woblick on Unsplash

The Story

After Germany agreed last week to send Marder fighting vehicles to Ukraine, pressure is now growing on the government to send Leopard battle tanks too. Or, at the very least, to give Poland permission to send Leopard tanks from its stores.

Polish president Andrzej Duda pledged on a visit to Ukraine this week that his country would send 14 Leopard tanks to Ukraine. That would make Poland the first country to supply Kyiv with western-built battle tanks.*

But to be able to deliver the tanks, Warsaw needs Berlin to grant an export licence. Leopards are German built, meaning they require a licence from Berlin before they can be sold on by a third country. This rule is supposed to prevent German weaponry from falling into the hands of unsavoury regimes.

But Olaf Scholz has also used it to prevent weapons from reaching Ukraine. Before the Russian invasion, Estonia wanted to send German-built howitzers to Kyiv but Scholz’ government refused to provide a…