Germany supplying lethal weapons to Ukraine is a “red line” for Moscow, which Berlin should not have crossed, Russian Ambassador to Germany Sergei Nechaev said on Monday, reports Sputnik News.
“The fact of supplying the Ukrainian regime with German-manufactured lethal weapons, used not only against Russian soldiers, but also against the civilian population of Donbass, is a red line that Berlin should not have crossed, taking into account Germany’s moral and historical responsibility to our people for the crimes of Nazism during the Great Patriotic War,” Nechaev told the Izvestiya newspaper.
In late August, German media reported that Ukrainian diplomats had repeatedly asked Germany to provide additional heavy weapons, but so far, without success. The German defense ministry reportedly justified its refusal by saying that the German Bundeswehr needed these weapons to fulfill its obligations in NATO.
At the same time, Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that Berlin has been regularly supplying Kiev with “very effective” weapons and vowed to continue the deliveries, but stressed that there should be no escalation.
Russia launched its special military operation in Ukraine on February 24, after the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics (DPR and LPR) appealed for help in defending themselves against Ukrainian provocations. In response to Russia’s operation, Western countries have rolled out a comprehensive sanctions campaign against Moscow and have ramped up lethal weapons supplies to Ukraine.
