For several weeks now, Slovakia has not allowed German-made weapons from Ukraine to enter its country, which should be repaired there.
As reported by “European truth“, the German edition writes about this Business Insider with reference to government sources in Berlin.
In mid-December, Kraus-Maffei Wegmann (KMW) set up a repair center on behalf of the German Armed Forces near the Slovak city of Michalovce on the border with Ukraine to repair broken howitzers, Gepard anti-aircraft guns or MARS systems.
But Slovakia is preventing weapons from crossing the border into a repair center, reportedly citing unresolved legal issues, including import duties.
According to the publication, vehicles with 15 malfunctioning self-propelled howitzers are waiting in front of the Slovak border to continue their journey. Heavy artillery installations on the Ukrainian side are extremely important for defense.
To at least partially defuse the situation, the German Ministry of Defense is said to occasionally transport weapons through neighboring EU countries, which means not only hundreds of kilometers of detours, but, above all, a significant loss of time for repairs. MARS launchers and Gepard tanks will also be partially refurbished in Germany.
It is not entirely clear why Slovakia reacts in this way, despite the relevant government agreement. The German side admits that some legal issues related to the repair center were ignored due to the speed with which the agreement was concluded at the end of last year.
On the other hand, new elections are due in Slovakia after the government was sacked by a vote of no confidence in December. Since then, the country has experienced a government crisis and fuzzy power relations. The left opposition is considered more pro-Russian.
After various interventions by the federal government at various levels, Chancellor Olaf Scholz intervened. In a phone call last week, Slovakia’s acting prime minister, Eduard Geger, assured Scholz that the issue would be resolved quickly.
Recall that the speaker of the Slovak Parliament, Boris Kollar, said that in the issue of transferring MiG-29 fighters to Ukraine, it is first necessary to decide whether the interim government has legitimacy for this.
