German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius speaks as NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg looks on during a news conference at the Defence Ministry in Berlin, Germany January 24, 2023. REUTERS/Annegret Hilse
BERLIN (Reuters) - NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg urged allies on Tuesday to speed up deliveries of heavy and more advanced weapons to repel Russian forces in Ukraine and expressed confidence that a decision on sending battle tanks to Kyiv would come soon.
Stoltenberg was speaking in Berlin alongside Germany's new defence minister, Boris Pistorius, who said his government would act quickly on the tanks if a consensus was found.
Pressure has been building on German Chancellor Olaf Scholz's government to send its Leopard tanks to Ukraine and allow other countries to do the same - under military procurement rules, Germany must authorise any re-exports.
But Scholz's Social Democrat party has been holding back, wary of sudden moves that could cause Moscow to escalate further.
Poland, which has accused Germany of dragging its heels on the tanks, said on Tuesday it had formally requested permission from Berlin to re-export its Leopard tanks to Ukraine.
"At this pivotal moment in the war, we must provide heavier and more advanced systems to Ukraine, and we must do it faster," NATO's Stoltenberg told reporters.
"I therefore welcome our discussion today. We discussed the issue of battle tanks. Consultations among allies will continue and I'm confident we will have a solution soon," Stoltenberg added.
Pistorius said Germany was not standing in the way of other countries training Ukrainian troops to use the Leopard tanks while talks continued. He said it was wrong to say that "there's disunity or that Germany is isolated".
Scholz was trying to forge consensus on the tanks issue, he said, adding that NATO must not become party to the war in Ukraine.
Germany's foreign minister Annalena Baerbock had signalled a possible breakthrough on Sunday when she said her government would not stand in the way if Poland wants to send its Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine.
But on Tuesday a German foreign ministry official appeared to temper those remarks by saying that Scholz would decide on sending the tanks.
(Reporting by Paul Carrel and Matthias Williams, editing by Rachel More and Andrew Heavens)
