BY MICHAEL BARUAH, OUR NORTH AMERICA CORRESPONDENT.
Speaking in Tallinn, Baerbock said that the German army itself faces kit shortages for its current missions and Germany was backfilling donations of old Soviet kits made by allies.
“I have underlined yesterday that there are no taboos for us with regard to armored vehicles and other weaponry,” she told reporters at a news conference.
“We have in the past not invested so much money as others have done in their own army. That’s why we have different parts of our army with not full stocks,” she added.
It came on the second day of a tour of Baltic states as Baerbock addressed criticism by allies and commentators of Germany’s apparent foot-dragging on delivering the weaponry Kyiv says it needs to fend off Russian attacks.
Annalena Charlotte Alma Baerbock is a German politician. Her party is Alliance 90/The Greens and she has served as the Federal Minister of Foreign Affairs since 2021. From 2018 to January 2022, Baerbock served as co-leader of Alliance 90/The Greens, alongside Robert Habeck. She is a Member of the German Bundestag since 2013.
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Germany upset over Britain as anger grows over failure to send weapons to Ukraine.
The opposition Christian Democrats are threatening to force a vote in parliament on the question to expose divisions within Mr Scholz’s government.
Friedrich Merz, their leader, claimed there is “massive resistance” to arming Ukraine within Mr Scholz’s Social Democrat party.
“The chancellor is avoiding this issue because he’s afraid his own party will openly object to it,” Mr Merz said.
Annalena Baerbock, the foreign minister and a leading Green, has spoken out in favour of sending heavy weapons.
But on Wednesday she backed Mr Scholz’s claim that the German military could not send any more of its own stocks.
The embattled chancellor was also supported by the German military, after the deputy chief of staff warned that sending Ukraine infantry fighting vehicles would leave Germany underequipped and unable to fulfil its Nato obligations.
“We would no longer be able to react to eventualities, and that would significantly weaken our defensive capability,” said Lt-Gen Markus Laubenthal.
At the heart of the row are proposals for Germany to hand over 100 Marder IFVs to Ukraine.
Kyiv has arranged to buy 100 decommissioned Marders from the German arms company Rheinmetall, but the manufacturer says they need to be restored and it will be several months before they are operational.