Spain is not going to send weapons to Ukraine on its own, unlike what other countries are planning to do. And it is not going to increase its military spending either, despite the war drums that are beating in Eastern Europe.
Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez (PSOE, social democrat) announced on Monday night that, unlike other European Union states, his government does not intend to send offensive weapons to the Ukrainians, to combat the Russian invasion.
The Spanish military support to the government of Volodymyr Zelensky will be processed through the European Peace Support Fund, to which Spain is the fourth country in contribution and from which 500 million euros will be allocated to help Ukraine, explained the prime minister.
Spain is the fourth-largest contributor to the fund, which plan to raise €450 million for weapons and €50 million for equipment and fuel.
Sanchez made this announcement in an interview with RTVE broadcast live at prime time on Monday night.
The prime minister avoided responding to the most difficult questions related to the disagreements within the coalition government with his partners from Unidas Podemos (Left), a party that is being very critical of the role played by NATO before the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
"The greatest gift we could give Putin is division, not unity," he emphasized.
The leaders of Unidas Podemos have also harshly criticized the European decision to ban the broadcasts of the Russian television channels RT and Sputnik.
Other countries
In this way, Madrid has made it clear that Spain will not send offensive weapons directly to the Ukrainian government, unlike other countries such as Germany, Estonia, Finland and Norway, which have confirmed shipments of lethal weaponry.
The head of the government explained that Spanish support for Ukraine goes through three channels: «Humanitarian aid through Poland and Moldova, the remission of defensive material -helmets and vests- and the activation of the mechanism fund for peace, of 500 million euros, to supply offensive material».
Sanchez also hinted in the interview that the Spanish government does not have among its plans to approve an increase in military spending, unlike what Germany has done, as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
