Germany to equip Greece with armoured vehicles in exchange for delivering tanks to Ukraine

Germany will provide modern armoured vehicles to Greece so that the government in Athens delivers Soviet-era tanks to Ukraine. The development has been announced by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz at the end of a two-day European Council meeting of European Union leaders in Brussels, Politico reported. Scholz announced that he had discussed the tank exchange deal with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. 

Olaf Scholz has said that the defence ministers of Greece and Germany will discuss the deal regarding the tank swap in "very concrete terms" and work to implement the decision at the earliest. Scholz had proposed the tank swap scheme in April to avoid sending the modern western tanks like the Leopard or the Marder infantry fighting vehicle directly to Ukraine, as per the Politico report. German Chancellor has been avoiding sending tanks directly to Ukraine over fears that NATO could be dragged into the war between Russia and Ukraine. The German Chancellor has not revealed the details regarding what kind of Soviet-era tanks will be sent to Ukraine. However, the Greek Defence Ministry has announced that they will be providing BMP-1 infantry fighting vehicles to Ukraine and will get an "equal number" of German Marder infantry fighting vehicles in return.

According to German officials, the tank exchange deal between Greece and Germany will be favourable for Ukraine as the armed forces will receive the tank models which they have already operated or are familiar with. The German government had a similar tank swap agreement with the Czech Republic. Under the tank exchange deal, the Czech Republic will deliver soviet-era tanks to Ukraine and get 4 Leopard 2A4 main battle tanks and one Leopard tank recovery vehicle in return, as per the news report. Furthermore, Scholz announced that he discussed a similar agreement with Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki during the EU summit. The development comes as the war between Russia and Ukraine transcended 90 days. 

German Defence Committee Chief urges Scholz to provide Marder vehicles to Kyiv

Meanwhile, German Defence Committee Chief, Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann called on Chancellor of Germany, Olaf Scholz, to provide 50 Marder Infantry fighting vehicles to Ukraine at the earliest. She urged Scholz to have a special coordinator for the delivery of arms and "transport communication of German services to Ukraine," citing security reasons after the delivery of 50 Marder Infantry fighting vehicles, Bild reported. Free Democratic Party leader Alexander Graf Lambsdorff also backed the delivery of Marder vehicles to Ukraine. 

Image: AP