Germany should provide weapons to Ukraine: Munich Security Conference chief

Germany should provide weapons to Ukraine: Munich Security Conference chief. 

Germany must re-invigorate its international leadership arena, ease its arms exports policy, and even consider the possibility of supplying weapons to Ukraine, the next head of the Munich Security Conference, Christoph Heusgen has said during an interview.

Germany is under fire for not sending weapons to Ukraine instead of the other Western partners due to worries of a new Russian invasion.

Germany has been a long-time policy of not sending weapons to war zones, rooted in the bloody 20th-century history and the resulting peaceful coexistence.

Heusgen stated that Berlin was showing leadership during the crisis by reviving, for instance, the Normandy model of talks that included the representatives of Ukraine, Russia, France, and Germany.

However, Germany ought to think about exporting weapons to ensure that Ukraine can defend itself also, said Heusgen, the former top German diplomat, who’ll be the new head of his role as the head of MSC after this year’s conference February 18-20. 

According to him, the use of history as a reason is no longer acceptable or even sensible.

“We are too easy for ourselves to claim we’ve always done things this method, so we keep doing it,” he said to the media. 

“We need to engage in discussions about the need for a more active German participation in foreign policies and security policies. (arms export policy) is one of them.”

Heusgen stated that Russian President Vladimir Putin appeared to be creating a crisis in Ukraine to increase his popularity at home but had not yet been ready to take action.

“He is taking note of to see how we respond,” Heusgen said.

Germany is the second biggest contributor of money to the United Nations had already demonstrated more leadership in foreign policy under the previous German Chancellor Angela Merkel, said Heusgen.

When asked if Europe should maintain troops in Mali, He said that the West should learn from the Afghanistan disaster and concentrate on supporting countries that respect good governance and human rights.

Europe should issue a request for Mali’s government, or it begins implementing a prior peace agreement with tribes of northern Africa and organizes democratic elections, “or we leave.”