Tag: Germany

Europe is running out of medicines

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When you’re feeling under the weather, the last thing you want to do is trek from pharmacy to pharmacy searching for basic medicines like cough syrup and antibiotics. Yet many people across Europe — faced with a particularly harsh winter bug season — are having to do just that.
Since late 2022, EU countries have been reporting serious problems trying to source certain important drugs, with a majority now experiencing shortages. So just how bad is the situation and, crucially, what’s being done about it? POLITICO walks you through the main points.
How bad are the shortages?
In a survey of groups representing pharmacies in 29 European countries, including EU members as well as Turkey, Kosovo, Norway and North Macedonia, almost a quarter of countries reported more than 600 drugs in short supply, and 20 percent reported 200-300 drug shortages. Three-quarters of the countries said shortages were worse this winter than a year ago. Groups in four countries said that shortages had been linked to deaths.

It’s a portrait backed by data from regulators. Belgian authorities report nearly 300 medicines in short supply. In Germany that number is 408, while in Austria more than 600 medicines can’t be bought in pharmacies at the moment. Italy’s list is even longer — with over 3,000 drugs included, though many are different formulations of the same medicine.
Which medicines are affected?
Antibiotics — particularly amoxicillin, which is used to treat respiratory infections — are in short supply. Other classes of drugs, including cough syrup, children’s paracetamol, and blood pressure medicine, are also scarce.
Why is this happening?
It’s a mix of increased demand and reduced supply.
Seasonal infections — influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) first and foremost — started early and are stronger than usual. There’s also an unusual outbreak of throat disease Strep A in children. Experts think the unusually high level of disease activity is linked to weaker immune systems that are no longer familiar with the soup of germs surrounding us in daily life, due to lockdowns. This difficult winter, after a couple of quiet years (with the exception of COVID-19), caught drugmakers unprepared.
Inflation and the energy crisis have also been weighing on pharmaceutical companies, affecting supply.
Last year, Centrient Pharmaceuticals, a Dutch producer of active pharmaceutical ingredients, said its plant was producing a quarter less output than in 2021 due to high energy costs. In December, InnoGenerics, another manufacturer from the Netherlands, was bailed out by the government after declaring bankruptcy to keep its factory open.
Commissioner Stella Kyriakides wrote to Greece’s health minister asking him to take into consideration the effects of bans on third countries | Stephanie Lecocq/EPA-EFE
The result, according to Sandoz, one of the largest producers on the European generics market, is an especially “tight supply situation.” A spokesperson told POLITICO that other culprits include scarcity of raw materials and manufacturing capacity constraints. They added that Sandoz is able to meet demand at the moment, but is “facing challenges.”
How are governments reacting?
Some countries are slamming the brakes on exports to protect domestic supplies. In November, Greece’s drugs regulator expanded the list of medicine whose resale to other countries — known as parallel trade — is banned. Romania has temporarily stopped exports of certain antibiotics and kids’ painkillers. Earlier in January, Belgium published a decree that allows the authorities to halt exports in case of a crisis.
These freezes can have knock-on effects. A letter from European Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides addressed to Greece’s Health Minister Thanos Plevris asked him to take into consideration the effects of bans on third countries. “Member States must refrain from taking national measures that could affect the EU internal market and prevent access to medicines for those in need in other Member States,” wrote Kyriakides.
Germany’s government is considering changing the law to ease procurement requirements, which currently force health insurers to buy medicines where they are cheapest, concentrating the supply into the hands of a few of the most price-competitive producers. The new law would have buyers purchase medicines from multiple suppliers, including more expensive ones, to make supply more reliable. The Netherlands recently introduced a law requiring vendors to keep six weeks of stockpiles to bridge shortages, and in Sweden the government is proposing similar rules.
At a more granular level, a committee led by the EU’s drugs regulator, the European Medicines Agency (EMA), has recommended that rules be loosened to allow pharmacies to dispense pills or medicine doses individually, among other measures. In Germany, the president of the German Medical Association went so far as to call for the creation of informal “flea markets” for medicines, where people could give their unused drugs to patients who needed them. And in France and Germany, pharmacists have started producing their own medicines — though this is unlikely to make a big difference, given the extent of the shortfall.
Can the EU fix it?
In theory, the EU should be more ready than ever to tackle a bloc-wide crisis. It has recently upgraded its legislation to deal with health threats, including a lack of pharmaceuticals. The EMA has been given expanded powers to monitor drug shortages. And a whole new body, the Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA) has been set up, with the power to go on the market and purchase drugs for the entire bloc.
But not everyone agrees that it’s that bad yet.
Last Thursday, the EMA decided not to ask the Commission to declare the amoxycillin shortage a “major event” — an official label that would have triggered some (limited) EU-wide action— saying that current measures are improving the situation.
A European Medicines Agency’s working group on shortages could decide on Thursday whether to recommend that the Commission declares the drug shortages a “major event” — an official label that would trigger some (limited) EU-wide action. An EMA steering group for shortages would have the power to request data on drug stocks of the drugs and production capacity from suppliers, and issue recommendations on how to mitigate shortages.
At an appearance before the European Parliament’s health committee, the Commission’s top health official, Sandra Gallina, said she wanted to “dismiss a bit the idea that there is a huge shortage,” and said that alternative medications are available to use.
And others believe the situation will get better with time. “I think it will sort itself out, but that depends on the peak of infections,” said Adrian van den Hoven, director general of generics medicines lobby Medicines for Europe. “If we have reached the peak, supply will catch up quickly. If not, probably not a good scenario.”
Helen Collis and Sarah-Taïssir Bencharif contributed reporting.

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( With inputs from : www.politico.eu )

January 24, 2023
‘Poland would request authorisation from Germany to send tanks to Ukraine’

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Warsaw: Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said that his government would request authorisation from Germany to send the Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine.
But he also said that Poland would send the tanks to Ukraine, even if authorisation was not granted, reports the BBC.
The Prime Minister’s remarks came a day after German Foreign Minister Anna Baerbock said on Sunday that she “would not stand in the way” of Poland if it were to send Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, adding that Warsaw was yet to ask for export permission.
“For the moment the question has not been asked, but if we were asked we would not stand in the way,” she told France’s LCI TV.
In response to her statement, Morawiecki said on Monday that “even if ultimately we did not get this consent, within the framework of a small coalition… we will still hand over our tanks, together with others, to Ukraine”.
Also on Monday, the Polish president’s foreign policy adviser, Marcin Przydacz, said he welcomed Baerbock’s announcement, but would prefer to hear Germany’s position confirmed by Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
“It turns out that through talks and diplomatic actions, Poland is able to change the German position,” Przydacz told Polish Radio.
Speaking to the BBC on the development, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that Germany had the power to “save the lives of many Ukrainian soldiers”.

He appealed to all countries willing to send Leopard 2 tanks to “immediately, officially request the German government to allow delivery of these tanks to Ukraine”.
“This is the move that will make the whole situation crystal clear and we will see where it takes Germany. This is something that needs to be done right away and everything will become obvious,” he told the BBC on Monday.
Kuleba later told Ukrainian national TV that he was “confident” Germany would supply the tanks eventually.
“We already received British Challenger. They said it would be impossible… Every time in the end we obtained the desired result. We will have it this time as well.”
Last week, Morawiecki had said that Poland was ready to provide 14 Leopard 2s for Ukraine.
Polish government official however opined that the 14 tanks will have a limited impact on Ukraine’s fighting capacity and that Warsaw would ultimately want Germany and other NATO allies to also send their own Leopards.
The Leopard 2 tanks were specifically designed to compete with the Russian T-90 tanks, which are being used in the ongoing invasion, the BBC reported.
There are believed to be more than 2,000 of them worldwide and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky said about 300 of them would help ensure a Russian defeat.
Under current regulations, Germany must also sanction any re-export of its tanks by other countries, such as Poland.
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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

January 24, 2023
Germany ready to let Poland send Leopard tanks to Ukraine

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Berlin: Germany is ready to authorize Poland to send German-made Leopard tanks to Ukraine to help Kyiv fight the Russian invasion if Warsaw makes such a request, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock told French Television LCI on Sunday, reported CNN.
“The question has not been asked. If we were asked the question, we would not stand in the way,” Baerbock said in an interview on the sides of a French-German cabinet meeting celebrating 60 years of the Elysee treaty.
When asked for clarification by the interviewer if she meant Germany would not stop Poland from sending battle tanks to Ukraine, Baerbock said, “You have understood me correctly.”
Her comments come as Berlin resists pressure from Kyiv to send some of its own stocks of the Leopard tanks to Ukraine.
Poland has announced it is ready to deliver 14 Leopard tanks to Kyiv but Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said he was waiting for “a clear statement” from Berlin whether countries that have the Leopards can transfer them to Ukraine, reported RFI.
“We have rules, the so-called end-use controls,” Baerbock said of Germany’s hesitancy to send combat tanks into the war zone.
According to Germany’s basic law, “weapons intended for warfare may be manufactured, transported, and marketed only with the authorization of the federal government,” reported CNN.
Under the “War Weapons Control Act” the German government must consent to any delivery of German-made weapons to a war zone.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz must consent and the final decision rests with him, according to German law.
Scholz has been heavily criticized by his liberal coalition partner and many others for his stance on sending Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday said that there was “no alternative” but for the West to give Ukraine heavy tanks.
Meanwhile, a Russian politician warned that the continued delivery of weapons to Ukraine “will lead to a global catastrophe,” reported CNN.
“Delivery of offensive weapons to the Kyiv regime will lead to a global catastrophe,” Vyacheslav Volodin, the chairman of the State Duma, Russia’s lower house of parliament, wrote on his Telegram channel Sunday.
Volodin said the delivery of weapons will lead to Russian retaliation “using more powerful weapons.”
Volodin comments come after NATO partners met at Ramstein air base in Germany Friday to discuss more military aid for Ukraine.
However, former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the availability of modern weapons in the Ukrainian army will not lead to an escalation of war with Russia, in a Sunday address to students and professors at Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, reported CNN.
“Do not listen to the arguments of those who talk about escalation. People worry in the west that things are going to escalate if we give Ukraine the weapons,” Johnson said. “I was in Bucha. How can we escalate the confrontation, where one side is already using the most advanced modern aircraft to bomb residential areas? Ukraine deserves all the help possible.”
Johnson went on to say that Ukraine should “seek its destiny in NATO” because it not being in NATO “has led to the worst war in Europe in the past 80 years.”
Johnson said the whole world “owes Ukraine a debt,” because it is fighting for everybody who can potentially become “a victim of Vladimir Putin’s aggression.” He said Ukraine “fights for freedom around the world” and that the British people support Ukraine “a 100 pc.”
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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

January 23, 2023
Macron calls on France, Germany to become pioneers of Europe refoundation

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Paris: France and Germany should together become “pioneers” in the refoundation of Europe, French President Emmanuel Macron said in Paris during the celebration of the 60th anniversary of France-Germany reconciliation.
Macron on Sunday pointed out that the first task of the two countries, as pioneers, should be building together a new energy model beyond their differences, Xinhua news agency reported.
“We must encourage and accelerate at the European level necessary public and private investments for the ecological transition,” he noted, adding that the two allies must complete the diversification of their sources and encourage the production of carbon-free energy in Europe.
Macron said that the two countries should also be pioneers for innovation and technologies of tomorrow in order to build the ecological and social prosperity that unites France and Germany.
Macron laid out an ambitious European industrial strategy, Made In Europe 2030, which he said would make Europe the champion of new technologies and artificial intelligence.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that the future of Europe depended on the “driving force” of Germany and France.
“The German-French engine is a machine for compromise, well oiled, but from time to time also loud and marked by hard work,” he said during the ceremony.
The 23rd Franco-German Council of Ministers was also held on Sunday, during which topics such as economy, energy transition, defense and European policy were discussed. In a joint declaration, the two countries agreed to increase collaboration in space and cyberspace.

“We must strengthen and promote our political, economic and social models, accelerate the energy transition to achieve climate neutrality and sustainability as soon as possible,” the two countries said in the declaration.
The two countries also expressed determination to meet energy, environment, climate, industry and biodiversity challenges.
This is the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic that the Franco-German Council of Ministers was held offline.
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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

January 23, 2023
Send Ukraine tanks to get Germany to do so, McCaul urges

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He said that would create a domino effect, leading other nations in Europe to send Leopard 2 tanks as well. “Even saying we’re going to put Abrams tanks in, I think would be enough for Germany to unleash,” McCaul told host Martha Raddatz.
While much of Europe has been consistently supportive of Ukraine in its 11-month-old war with Russia, the question has been how much help to provide, particularly when it comes to weaponry. There are a variety of practical concerns involved, including the need to train Ukrainian forces to operate and maintain what is sent to them. And there is the possibility that Russian President Vladimir Putin could expand the war if he were to feel threatened by the West.
Germany on Friday said it had yet to decide whether to send tanks to Ukraine. Poland on Sunday accused Germany of dragging its feet on providing assistance to Ukraine and suggested it would be be willing to create its own coalition of countries to assist Zelenskyy’s forces. “We will not passively watch Ukraine bleed to death,” Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said.
Russia, for its part, has threatened the West with reprisals should Ukraine be supplied with more lethal weaponry. “With their decisions, Washington and Brussels are leading the world to a terrible war,” Vyacheslav Volodin, chair of Russia’s lower house, said Sunday.
Beyond tanks, McCaul also said Ukraine needs long-range artillery. Ukraine has said it needs more help because it expects Russia to launch new offensives, which McCaul expects to happen soon.
“The two main things that Zelenskyy is talking about, and everybody I’ve talked to, they need the tanks for the winter offensive that the Russians are going to perpetrate, and they need the longer-range artillery,” McCaul said.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

January 22, 2023
Germany faces backlash over reluctance to send tanks to Ukraine

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Germany is facing a backlash from allies over its reluctance to supply Leopard 2 tanks to bolster Ukraine’s fighting capacity in the nearly year-long war with Russia.
On Friday, 50 countries agreed to provide Kyiv with billions of dollars’ worth of military hardware, including armoured vehicles and munitions needed to push back Russian forces.
But the German defence minister, Boris Pistorius, told reporters at the US Ramstein airbase in Germany that despite heightened expectations, “we still cannot say when a decision will be taken, and what the decision will be, when it comes to the Leopard tank”.
Ukraine on Saturday denounced the “global indecision” of its allies in providing heavy-duty modern tanks, saying “today’s indecision is killing more of our people”.
“Every day of delay is the death of Ukrainians. Think faster,” tweeted presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak.
Several allies echoed the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, in saying the tanks were essential to Ukraine’s fight with its much larger neighbour.
In a joint statement – and a rare public criticism of Europe’s top power – the foreign ministers of the three Baltic states of Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania said they “call on Germany to provide Leopard tanks to Ukraine now”.
“This is needed to stop Russian aggression, help Ukraine and restore peace in Europe quickly. Germany as the leading European power has special responsibility in this regard,” said the statement, tweeted by the Latvian foreign minister, Edgars Rinkēvičs.

Graphic showing Leopard 2 tank
Berlin has been hesitant to send the Leopards or allow other countries to transfer them to Kyiv, with reports earlier in the week saying it would agree to do so only if the US provided its tanks as well. Washington has said providing its Abrams tanks to Ukraine is not feasible, citing difficulties in training and maintenance.
But expectations had grown ahead of Friday’s Ukraine contact group meeting of about 50 US-led countries at Ramstein airbase that Germany would at least agree to let other countries operating Leopards transfer them to Kyiv’s army.
The US senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina who is visiting Kyiv, called on both sides to supply the machines.
“To the Germans: send tanks to Ukraine because they need them. It is in your own national interest that Putin loses in Ukraine.
“To the Biden administration: send American tanks so that others will follow our lead,” he tweeted.
The pleas came as the Russian army said its troops had launched an offensive in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region, where fighting intensified this week after several months of an almost frozen front.
In its daily report on Saturday, Moscow’s forces said they had carried out “offensive operations” in the region and claimed to have “taken more advantageous lines and positions”.

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( With inputs from : www.theguardian.com )

January 21, 2023
Germany ready to let Poland send Leopard tanks to Ukraine: foreign minister

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PARIS — Germany “would not stand in the way” if Poland or other allies asked for permission to send their German-built Leopard tanks to Ukraine, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said on Sunday.
The remarks by the Green politician, who was interviewed by French TV LCI on the sidelines of a Franco-German summit in Paris, came in response to comments by Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, who has raised pressure on Berlin in recent days by saying that Poland is willing to supply Kyiv with Leopard tanks, which would require German approval.
Morawiecki even suggested that Warsaw was ready to send those tanks without Berlin’s consent.
Baerbock, however, stressed that “we have not been asked so far” by Poland for such permission. “If we were asked, we would not stand in the way,” she added.
German officials have gotten increasingly frustrated in recent days by what they perceive as a “media blame-game” by Poland, as Warsaw has repeatedly suggested that Germany was hampering plans to send Leopard tanks to Ukraine, although it appears that the necessary request for export permission has not been made yet.
Germany is, however, still dragging its feet when it comes to the bigger question of whether it would be willing to send its own Leopard tanks to Ukraine, for example as part of a broader coalition with Poland and other countries like Finland and Denmark.
Pressed on that point during a press conference in Paris on Sunday, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz avoided giving a clear answer, stressing instead that Berlin had never ceased supporting Ukraine with weapons deliveries and took its decisions in cooperation with its allies.
Poland’s Morawiecki said on Sunday that his country was ready to build a “smaller coalition” for sending tanks to Ukraine without Germany.

Baerbock’s comments are therefore also raising the pressure on Scholz to take a clearer position on the tank issue — at least when it comes to granting export permissions to other countries.
After Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck, also from the Greens, said earlier that Germany “should not stand in the way” of permitting such deliveries, the foreign minister’s even more definitive statement makes it even harder for Scholz to take a different position.
Ukraine has been appealing to Germany and other Western nations to supply modern Western-made battle tanks in order to fend off an expected Russian spring offensive.

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( With inputs from : www.politico.eu )

January 21, 2023
Scholz upbeat about trade truce with US in ‘first quarter of this year’

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PARIS — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz raised optimism on Sunday that the EU and the U.S. can reach a trade truce in the coming months to prevent discrimination against European companies due to American subsidies.
Speaking at a press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron following a joint Franco-German Cabinet meeting in Paris, Scholz said he was “confident” that the EU and the U.S. could reach an agreement “within the first quarter of this year” to address measures under the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act that Europe fears would siphon investments in key technologies away the Continent.
“My impression is that there is a great understanding in the U.S. [of the concerns raised in the EU],” the chancellor said.
Macron told reporters that he and Scholz supported attempts by the European Commission to negotiate exemptions from the U.S. law to avoid discrimination against EU companies.
The fresh optimism came as both leaders adopted a joint statement in which they called for loosening EU state aid rules to boost home-grown green industries — in a response to the U.S. law. The text said the EU needed “ambitious” measures to increase the bloc’s economic competitiveness, such as “simplified and streamlined procedures for state aid” that would allow pumping more money into strategic industries.
The joint statement also stressed the need to create “sufficient funding.” But in a win for Berlin, which has been reluctant to talk about new EU debt, the text says that the bloc should first make “full use of the available funding and financial instruments.” The statement also includes an unspecific reference about the need to create “solidarity measures.”
EU leaders will meet early next month to discuss Europe’s response to the Inflation Reduction Act, including the Franco-German proposal to soften state aid rules.
The relationship between Scholz and Macron hit a low in recent months when the French president canceled a planned joint Cabinet meeting in October over disagreements on energy, finance and defense. But the two leaders have since found common ground over responding to the green subsidies in Washington’s Inflation Reduction Act. Macron said that Paris and Berlin had worked in recent weeks to “synchronize” their visions for Europe.

“We need the greatest convergence possible to help Europe to move forward,” he said.
But there was little convergence on how to respond to Ukraine’s repeated requests for Germany and France to deliver battle tanks amid fears there could be a renewed Russian offensive in the spring.
Asked whether France would send Leclerc tanks to Ukraine, Macron said the request was being considered and there was work to be done on this issue in the “days and weeks to come.”
Scholz evaded a question on whether Germany would send Leopard 2 tanks, stressing that Berlin had never ceased supporting Ukraine with weapons deliveries and took its decisions in cooperation with its allies.
“We have to fear that this war will go on for a very long time,” the chancellor said.
Reconciliation, for past and present
The German chancellor and his Cabinet were in Paris on Sunday to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Elysée treaty, which marked a reconciliation between France and Germany after World War II. The celebrations, first at the Sorbonne University and later at the Elysée Palace, were also a moment for the two leaders to put their recent disagreements aside.
Paris and Berlin have been at odds in recent months not only over defense, energy and finance policy, but also Scholz’s controversial €200 billion package for energy price relief, which was announced last fall without previously involving the French government. These tensions culminated in Macron snubbing Scholz by canceling, in an unprecedented manner, a planned press conference with the German leader in October.
At the Sorbonne, Scholz admitted relations between the two countries were often turbulent.
“The Franco-German engine isn’t always an engine that purrs softly; it’s also a well-oiled machine that can be noisy when it is looking for compromises,” he said.
Macron said France and Germany needed to show “fresh ambition” at a time when “history is becoming unhinged again,” in a reference to Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.
“Because we have cleared a path towards reconciliation, France and Germany must become pioneers for the relaunch of Europe” in areas such as energy, innovation, technology, artificial intelligence and diplomacy, he said.
On defense, Paris and Berlin announced that Franco-German battalions would be deployed to Romania and Lithuania to reinforce NATO’s eastern front.
The leaders also welcomed “with satisfaction” recent progress on their joint fighter jet project, FCAS, and said they wanted to progress on their Franco-German tank project, according to the joint statement.
The joint declaration also said that both countries are open to the long-term project of EU treaty changes, and that in the shorter term they want to overcome “deadlocks” in the Council of the EU by switching to qualified majority voting on foreign policy and taxation.

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( With inputs from : www.politico.eu )

January 21, 2023
Poland ready to build ‘smaller coalition’ to send tanks to Ukraine without Germany

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If Germany won’t play ball, then Poland will find other partners to deliver Leopard 2 battle tanks to Ukraine, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said in pointed remarks accusing Berlin of foot-dragging in its support of Kyiv against invading Russian forces.
Poland is prepared to go around German opposition to build a “smaller coalition” of countries and find allies willing to send the tanks to Ukraine, Morawiecki said in an interview with the Polish Press Agency published on Sunday.
“We will not passively watch Ukraine bleed to death,” Morawiecki said.

His remarks come amid a heated debate over whether to send the German-made battle tanks to Ukraine. Kyiv has requested the weapons in order to renew its offensive against Russia in a push to reconquer captured territory.
Germany has expressed reluctance toward sending tanks without the U.S. doing the same, as it fears an escalation of the conflict. Berlin also holds a veto power over the re-export of the weapons from any of its allies. German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius has denied blocking any deliveries.
“We are in very close dialogue on this issue with our international partners, above all with the U.S.,” Pistorius, who took up the defense post last week, said in an interview with Bild published on Sunday.
Morawiecki has previously said that he was ready to go ahead with Leopard deliveries even without Berlin’s approval.
“Since Minister Pistorius denies that Germany is blocking the supply of tanks to Ukraine, I would like to hear a clear declaration that Berlin supports sending them,” the prime minister told the Polish Press Agency.
“The war is here and now. … Do the Germans want to keep them in storage until Russia defeats Ukraine and is knocking on Berlin’s door?” Morawiecki said.
Political analyst Volodymyr Fesenko said in a statement that Germany was edging towards allowing the tanks to be sent — and advised “patience and perseverance.” But the broader takeaway was that Ukraine had to rebuild its own armaments industry in order to not have to only rely on help from abroad in the future, he added.

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( With inputs from : www.politico.eu )

January 21, 2023
Top Russia official threatens West with ‘global catastrophe’ over weapons to Ukraine

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Continued deliveries of arms to Ukraine by its allies in the West will lead to retaliation with “more powerful weapons,” a top official in Russian President Vladimir Putin’s regime said on Sunday.
Vyacheslav Volodin, chairman of Russia’s lower house, the State Duma, threatened Europe and the U.S. with “global catastrophe” over their continued military support to the government in Kyiv, which is trying to continue retaking territory it lost in the Russian invasion.
Volodin directly invoked the use of nuclear weapons in his statement over messaging app Telegram.
“Arguments that the nuclear powers have not previously used weapons of mass destruction in local conflicts are untenable. This is because these states have not faced a situation in which the security of their citizens and the territorial integrity of their countries were threatened,” the Russian official wrote in his social media post.
The threat comes amid arguments over whether Germany will send Leopard 2 battle tanks to Ukraine to fight the Russian invasion. Kyiv has requested the German-made tanks, which it says it needs to renew its counteroffensive against Moscow’s forces. But Berlin has so far resisted the call from Ukraine and its allies to send the tanks without the U.S. making the first move, over fears of an escalation in the conflict.
Berlin also hasn’t approved deliveries of the tanks from its allies, as Germany gets a final say over any re-exports of the vehicles from countries that have purchased them.
Newly appointed German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius is planning a trip to Ukraine, which could come in the next month, German newspaper Bild, a sister publication of POLITICO in the Axel Springer Group, reported on Sunday, citing an interview. Asked about the Leopard tanks, Pistorius said: “We are in very close dialogue on this issue with our international partners, above all with the U.S.”
In his Telegram post, Russia’s Volodin said: “With their decisions, Washington and Brussels are leading the world to a terrible war … foreign politicians making such decisions need to understand that this could end in a global tragedy that will destroy their countries.”

It’s not the first time that top Russian politicians threaten a nuclear escalation. Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has invoked the use of nuclear weapons more than once since the outbreak of the conflict 11 months ago.

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( With inputs from : www.politico.eu )

January 21, 2023