Status: 04/01/2022 15:02
With the permission of the federal government, the Czech Republic can deliver 58 armored personnel carriers from the stocks of the former GDR army to the Ukraine. The sale had already been planned – but at the time Berlin refused the necessary approval.
The Czech Republic is allowed to deliver 58 armored personnel carriers to Ukraine that used to belong to the GDR army and the German armed forces. The federal government has issued a permit, reports the “Welt”. A spokesman for the Ministry of Defense confirmed that the government had approved the delivery.
The PbV-501 (formerly BMP-1) armored combat vehicles originally belonged to the National People’s Army of the GDR and became part of the Bundeswehr’s inventory after reunification. According to the report, they are armed with cannon and machine guns and were part of the standard equipment of the Warsaw Pact armies.
Germany had to agree to the sale
At the end of the 1990s, Germany gave them to the Swedish army, which later sold them to a Czech company. The latter now wants to sell the armored cars to the Ukraine, for which the consent of Germany, as the previous owner, is required because of the so-called “end use clause”. The clause states that former Bundeswehr weapons may only be resold with the consent of Germany.
Federal government rejected earlier sale
According to the report, it is politically explosive that the tanks were supposed to go to Ukraine, but the federal government failed to do so. According to information from “Welt am Sonntag”, the Czech company already wanted to sell the same armored personnel carriers to the Ukrainian army in 2019. At that time, too, an application was made to the federal government, which, however, rejected it.
At that time, the government under Angela Merkel had committed itself to not supplying any weapons to Ukraine in order not to jeopardize the dialogue with Russia.
The vehicles can now be delivered, but this will take a few more weeks. The armored personnel carriers would first have to be repaired, it said.